Everything's Going to Crash and Break
by featherfire535
Summary: Life was supposed to be simple; birth, life, then death. But of course, nothing is as simple as it seems. And my life was going to be cut short before it really began. I will become my own savior, until the world crashes and breaks around me.
1. The Iron Haste Alchemist

As she peered warily around the corner of a shadowy alley, Raven had to wonder if she was making a mistake. She knew that the guards would eventually find her- they always did- and drag her back to that hellhole. She would put up a fight of course, but in the end, it would be all to no avail. Still, she had to try. 

After making sure the coast was clear, she darted across the street and into another deserted alley. Raven knew she was kidding herself in what she was doing. She had already tried to run away twice this week and countless other times before, but the ending result was always the same. Cornered, knocked unconscious, and then it was back to the prison of a temple. 

But today was different somehow. For some unfathomable reason, she had woken up this morning and resolved to try again. So here she was, racing across the small city of Lior, hoping that this time she wouldn't be caught. 

"There she is!" a voice called from behind, pointing to her retreating figure. 

"Well that was fast," Raven mumbled to herself, ducking down a side street and off the main road. 

She could hear them behind her, slowly gaining on her tail. Raven sighed, wondering how long it would take them to realize that she knew the streets better than they did. Using it to her advantage, she sprinted into a part of the city she knew that they were unfamiliar with. 

"Where'd she go?" she heard one distantly ask. 

"This way," another responded, and their voices grew fainter as they went off in the wrong direction. 

Raven smirked. It was almost too easy, but she couldn't drop her guard. She peered over her shoulder to double-check that they were gone, turned down a random alley, and crashed into something. 

The force of the impact knocked her to the ground, and by the sound of the "oof!" that came from in front of her, she assumed that she had run into a person. She looked up at the stranger. He was a boy, perhaps her age, though it was hard to tell due to his lack of height, with his long blonde hair neatly braided and bangs that framed his face, and striking amber eyes. She could tell he had muscle by the way his red coat hugged his arms. What Raven found odd about they boy was that he was wearing gloves, a long-sleeve coat, and a black shirt and pants when they were in the middle of the desert. This guy was asking for a heat stroke. 

He blinked once in confusion as he took in her fair skin and deep moss green eyes lined with eyeliner. Her black hair hung down to the middle of her back, with bangs that were silver on the left side, and black on the other. She wore a pair of dark grey skinny jeans, black boots, a long black shirt, and a short, long sleeve army green jacket. The sleeves were too long, and they covered up her hands entirely, ending just below her fingertips. Her clothes may not have been suitable for wearing in the desert, but she was used to the heat by now. The boy stared, and then remembered why he was sprawled out on the ground. 

"Hey! What the hell? Watch where you're going-" he shouted, but was cut off as Raven clamped her hands- still covered up by her sleeves- over his mouth. 

"Shut up or they'll hear you!" she hissed at him. 

The boy's eyebrows furrowed. "Who?" he asked, his voice muffled through the fabric of her jacket. 

"She's over here!" someone yelled from behind. 

Raven looked around to see half-dozen guards surround them, blocking her off. They had her cornered. 

"Them," she answered darkly, then sighed. "Nice going, short stack." 

A vein pulsed in the boy's forehead. "Who are you calling a short stack?" he shouted. 

Raven uncovered his mouth, seeing that there was no point in trying to get him to be quiet anymore. _Besides_, she thought, _I doubt that he could keep his mouth shut long enough, even if he tried._

"Come on," a guard said, sounding annoyed. "Cornello is waiting for you." 

Her eyes narrowed into thin slits. "You can tell Cornello that he can drop dead for all I care!" she retorted, getting up. 

"Cornello?" the boy said, also getting to his feet. 

"Yeah, Cornello. You know? Tallish, kinda fat, bald, liar, conman..." Raven stated, her voice dragging. 

"How dare you speak of our savior- your uncle!- that way!" the guards charged at her. 

Raven's eyes glinted like daggers. "_He. Is. Not. My. Family!_" she hissed through her teeth. She traced a transmutation circle with her finger on the wall of the building that formed the alleyway. The wall elongated, and a shot a wide cement beam into the guards. It continued pushing and thrust them with bone-cracking force into the wall opposite the building. The breath whooshed out of their lungs and they cried out in pain, and then slumped to the ground, unconscious. 

The blonde gasped quietly in awe and surprise, and then broke into a grin. "You're an alchemist, aren't you?" 

Ignoring him, she walked over to the limp figure of the leader and examined her work. Then, she began rummaging through his pockets until she found what she was looking for. 

"Uh, hello? Are you even listening to me?" 

Raven pulled out a small, black, rectangular, remote control. There was a dial with numbers on it, and a large grey button. She took a few deep breaths, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do. 

"Hey! Hello?" the boy walked over to her. "What was that all about? What do you have to do with the prophet Cornello?" He placed a hand on her shoulder the instant Raven wrapped her sleeve-covered hand around the remote and crushed it in the palm of her hand. 

She squeezed her eyes shut in pain and winced as currents of electricity shot through her. She gave a small gasp, but managed to stay standing. The same could not be said for the boy however. By grabbing hold of her, he also felt the electrical shock through her. He cried out once, then let go of her and fell to the ground, his gloved hand smoking and singed around the edges. 

When it was over, Raven peeled her eyes open and pushed past the screaming headache that always followed behind the shocks. She gazed curiously at the twitching boy on the ground, wondering if he was alright. She was just about to check if he still had a pulse when he leaped up, his expression annoyed. 

"What was that for?" he demanded, dragging himself off the ground for the second time. 

"It's not my fault you were an idiot and touched me when I crushed this," she retorted, and let the scraps of metal fall out of her fist. They landed on the hard-packed dirt with a dull thud. 

"Maybe you should have told me what would happen!" he challenged. 

"Maybe if you hadn't stuck around, none of this would have happened," she shot back. 

"I only stayed because I saw that you were an alchemist," he huffed. 

Raven put her hands on her hips. "What? You've never seen an alchemist before?" 

He rolled his eyes. "I _am_ an alchemist. A State Alchemist. But I was told that there weren't any other alchemists in Lior..." he looked at her through curious eyes. 

"That's because no one's supposed to know about it," she stated, he mouth set in a grimace. 

The boy was quiet for a while, then asked, "So, who are you anyway?" 

She smiled a little. "My name's Raven. Raven Guardel." 

His eyes went wide. "Raven Guardel? The Iron Haste Alchemist?" 

Raven cocked her head to the side. "Have we met before? How do you know my name?" 

He grinned. "You're famous! You became a State Alchemist when you were only thirteen years old, then went missing two years ago. Is this where you've been all along?" 

"I can tell you later, but right now, we'd better move. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna be here when they wake up," Raven jerked her head toward the passed-out guards. 

"Right," he agreed. "I'll take you to where we're staying. We can talk there." He began to lead the way. 

"'We'?" she raised an eyebrow, but followed him anyway. 

"Yeah. Me and my brother, Al. We're the Elrics. I'm the _older_ brother, Ed. You may know me as the-" 

"The Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric," Raven finished for him. 

He paused. "You've heard of me? No one else in this desert has." 

"Just because I'm not in Central anymore, doesn't mean that I don't still keep up with what's going on," Raven half smiled. 

Ed returned the smile, and resumed walking. "True," was all he said until he led her to the Pilgrim's Quarters, where travelers visiting Lior stayed. It was risky for Raven to be hiding out so close to Cornello's temple, but she figured that right under his nose was the last place he'd expect to find her. 

"Don't worry, you'll be safe here," Ed said, as if reading her mind. 

They went inside and up a set of marble stairs to the traveler's rooms. She was ushered into a room at the end of the hallway that was small, yet somehow cozy. It was decorated and plusher than her own room, Raven noted with envy. The drapes on the windows were thrown aside, letting the golden rays of sunset filter in and fill the room with warmth. 

"Brother? Is that you?" a childlike voice said from the adjoined bedroom. 

"Yeah, I'm here, Al," Ed replied lazily. "We got company." 

There was a heavy thudding and creaking noise gradually coming nearer to them. A large suit of armor walked over to them, several feet taller than Ed, maybe about ten feet altogether. Raven assumed that this was Ed's brother, and grinned. 

"I can see why you emphasized the fact that you're the older brother, Ed. I never would've guessed that _this_ is your younger brother," she said jokingly. 

"We hear that a lot," Al laughed while Ed's eye twitched as he tried to control his anger. 

"I'm Raven Guardel," she introduced herself. 

"I'm Alphonse Elric, but I bet Ed already told you that. You can call me Al," he insisted. 

Cocking her head to the side, Raven glanced over him curiously. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you wearing a suit of armor? We're in the middle of the desert here, so it must get pretty stuffy in there I would think." 

The two brothers shared a slightly panicked look, much to Raven's surprise. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to offend you-" 

Waving his armor-clad hands in a dismissive gesture, Al responded quickly, "No, it's fine, really. It's just- uh- I have to wear it. It's part of my alchemy training," he explained. 

She blinked. "Are you a State Alchemist too?" 

Shaking his head, he answered no, only his brother was State Certified. "So, how did you two meet?" Al inquired, getting back to the subject at hand. 

As Ed relayed the story, Raven plopped down onto a couch, exhausted. It was nice to have a place to relax after running around the city all day. Never in her entire lifetime would she have guessed that the Fullmetal Alchemist would find her- or anyone from the outside world, for that matter. For once, she felt grateful that she had paid attention to Cornello's meetings on updates within the Amestrian Military. 

"... then she got me electrocuted when I touched her. After that, I brought her back here to talk, and here we are," Ed finished. "Hey," he turned to the half-asleep Raven, "why did you get shocked when you broke that remote thing?" 

Raven hesitated, then shrugged mentally. "Because of this weird device on my arm." She could picture it, just above her elbow, was what could have been mistaken as a thick metallic bracelet. "When the button is pressed on the remote, this thing reacts to it, and sends electrical currents throughout my body," she explained. 

Ed's eyes narrowed. "Why do you have it in the first place?" 

"Because Cornello's a psychotic bastard," she said matter-of-factly. "Not only do I get to be a dog of the military, but I'm also the dog Cornello gets to kick around for his own pleasure. With this on me, he can tell me what to do, and if I don't obey his orders, I get electrocuted. There's only one remote left," her voice dropped, "and guess who has it." 

"Cornello," Ed finished darkly. "But I don't understand one thing." Raven waited. "That guard back there. He said that Cornello was your uncle. So why would he do something like this to his own family?" 

Her eyes glinted dangerously, just as they did in the alley. "We're not related. The only ties we have with each other involve a lot of hate." 

"Then why would he say that you're related?" Al asked. 

She shrugged. "I guess he needed an excuse to explain why he showed up with a girl that was perfectly obedient and had no parents. It would look pretty bad if people found out that their 'great prophet' had kidnapped me and practically made me his slave." 

"Kidnapped?" 

Raved nodded, but didn't elaborate. Her past was something she never enjoyed talking about. 

"Heh," Ed was mulling over what she had just said, when his eyes flashed. "Have you ever tried to get that thing off your arm?" 

"No, I just _love_ the feeling of 70000 volts of electricity frying me," she rolled her eyes. "I've tried smashing it, taking it apart, using alchemy... nothing worked." 

Ed stood up and walked over to her, an idea forming in his mind. "Would you mind if I tried something? Can I see it?" He reached an arm out to her. 

A wave of panic spread throughout Raven. "Yes, I would mind," she swatted his hand away with more force than necessary. "And no, you can't see it." 

He blinked in surprise. "Uh, why?" 

"Because number one, I don't know you. Number two, I don't like people touching me. And number three, you're puny," she stated, crossing her arms. 

Ed ground his teeth together. "Who are you calling a puny runt that's the size of a pea?" 

Raven tried not to laugh at his tantrum with little success, and after a moment of hesitation, Al joined in with her. "Is he always like this?" she giggled. 

"Yeah, pretty much," Al chuckled. 

His brother glowered at them. "You're missing the point! I might be able to help you, if you'll let me," he insisted. 

Her laughter died in her throat. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't need your help. I can take care of myself," she replied stubbornly. 

"Really?" Ed said sarcastically. "Then why are you still here?" 

She blinked once in surprise. "If you want me to leave..." 

"No! What I mean is, why are you still here is Lior? You're an alchemist. You should be able to sneak out of here without a problem." 

"I _should_, but I _can't_. If I get outside the city's perimeters, I get a shock strong enough to knock me out. I wake up, and I'm right back where I started," she explained. 

"I see..." Ed murmured, and Raven could tell that he was scheming something. There was a look in his eye that screamed mischief. 

Al looked over at him. "Brother... what are you thinking?" he asked cautiously. 

Ed grinned widely. "I think it's time we take a little field trip. We're going to see Cornello." 

Raven's eyes bulged out of their sockets. "Are you crazy? The reason I ran away was to get away from him, and now you want me to go knock on his front door? That shock you got must have caused some brain damage." 

"Don't worry. I have a plan," he said confidently. 

Raven turned to Al. "Should I be worried about this?" 

"With Ed, you never know," Al said, and Raven could almost hear the smile in his voice. Maybe, just maybe, she figured, she could trust them.


	2. Doubt and Trust

_I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. All I own is my OC, the rest goes to Hiromu Arakawa. Please feel free to review and let me know what you think!_

* * *

><p>"You honestly think this will work?" Raven sounded dubious as the three of them slowly made their way through the city.<p>

"It's our best shot," Ed said care freely. "He obviously gets his power from his ring, so if we get our hands on it, we can use it against him."

Raven wondered if he had uncovered the truth of Cornello's ring. He hadn't admitted it yet, but Raven had a feeling that Ed had managed to add the pieces together. He was smart, Raven knew. Smart enough to pass the State Alchemist Exams with flying colors at age twelve. Raven figured that if she could pass the Exams at such a young age, this boy who had passed at twelve could find out the truth behind Cornello's lies. She herself had a perfectly calculated theory, but with the device on her arm, she was never able to get close enough to so much as touch the ring. However, if anything, this only solidified her initial thought- why would he not allow her near such a seemingly harmless object if it was actually anything but?

"This is it," Raven announced, and they stopped in front of the doors of a huge stone church.

The church bells rang loudly, echoing dully across the stone walls of the massive church. As Ed, Al, and Raven wandered inside, they noticed a girl kneeling at the alter in the front of the church. Raven recognized Rose even from behind from her unmistakable tanned skin, dark brown hair that flowed to the small of her back, and the shock of pink bangs falling across her forehead. She had talked with the girl a few times in the past, and she seemed pretty nice. A little misguided- a big thanks to Cornello- but nice all the same. Raven had never made much of a point to show her false faith in the sun god, Leto, while Rose was the exact opposite. Why she prayed and tried so hard to please Cornello, Raven never understood.

Her prayer, surprisingly enough, could still be heard over the clanging of the bells.

"Oh merciful God, please hear me, hear my prayer, I beg of you. Please bring him back," she whispered firmly.

Ed made his way up to the front row of pews, directly behind Rose's hunched figure. "So," he said, starling her, "this is the almighty Leto?"

Rose stood up and turned around to face the trio, her eyes slipping past Raven who was half-hidden behind Al's massive body. "Welcome. Are you interested in Letoism?" she asked warmly.

"Nope. Can't say I am. Not really the religious type," he replied dismissively.

Rose half smiled. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that," she said thoughtfully. "To know God is to know hope. If we believe in divine grace, then through him, all things are possible. If you believed…" Ed snapped to attention, "I'm sure he would bless you and make you grow taller."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed growled as Al restrained him and Raven laughed at how comical the whole scene was.

Rose seemed to just notice Raven's presence. "Oh, well hello Raven. Here I am, lecturing you about our great lord Leto when you probably know him better than I. You are Cornello's niece after all," she said pleasantly.

Raven had to restrain herself from shouting what a load of crap it all was, Cornello and their sun god, Leto. She was plenty used to the girl trying to persuade her into conforming into Cornello's little cult, so hearing words such as these no longer bothered her as they once did. "No big deal," she waved her hand dismissively.

With a sigh, Ed retired to a pew in the front row, slouching in his seat. "What about bringing the dead back to life? Do you believe that's possible too?" his tone had the barest hint of mocking feel to it. He obviously didn't believe in Cornello's 'miracles' any more than Raven did.

But Rose was different. "Yes," she said passionately.

Ed and Raven sighed in unison. He reached into one of his coat pockets, drew out a notebook, and opened it up to a page. He began reading off the list of the complete chemical makeup of an average human adult body, a list of elements and measurements that Raven could have recited without looking at the list. She knew it by heart. As Ed continued reading, Rose only looked more confused with every ingredient he listed. "Huh?" she said, slightly dazed.

"That list represents the complete chemical makeup of the human body for the average adult," Raven explained. "It's been calculated to the last microgram. But still, there's never been one reported case of successfully creating a human life," she said gravely.

Ed nodded in agreement. "You see? Even someone as close to Cornello as Raven agrees. Yet, you're honestly telling us that something modern science can't do, you can do with prayer?" disbelief and sarcasm colored his voice.

"Lift thy voice to God!" Rose shot back. "And the prayers of the faithful shall be answered."

Ed only rolled his eyes. "Did I mention all those ingredients I read off? Down at the market, a kid could buy every one of them with the spare change in his pocket."

"As it turns out," Raven added drearily, her voice dragging with disinterest, "humans are pretty cheap. Just goes to show how much we're really worth."

Rose stared at her incredulously. "No. That's blasphemy," her voice shook. "People are… we are all children of God, created in his image. And here you are, defying your own family, going against everything Father Cornello has taught us. How dare you!"

Raven laughed quietly, shaking her head at the naïve girl. "You have to understand, alchemists are scientists. None of us believe in improvable concepts, like creators or Gods."

"'Us'?" Rose looked at her uncomprehendingly. "Don't you mean 'them'?"

"I know what I said, and I meant it," she replied firmly. She was honestly surprised that Rose had not yet pieced the clues together that Raven was actually an alchemist. She blatantly denied the existence of God, had a vast knowledge of science and biology as well as a wide assortment of other odds and ends, and she had occasionally been caught performing minor transmutations. It should have come to no surprise that Raven was one of 'them.'

Were the people of this town truly that oblivious to her? It certainly would explain why no one questioned her choice of clothing and why no one seemed bothered by the fact that she never wore anything that revealed her bare arms. _He must have these people completely bent to his will_, Raven noted with a hint of annoyance.

The thought reminded her of the fact that she had yet to see why the Elrics kept themselves as hidden as she did. One huddled in a suit of armor, the other covered head to toe in garb that was clearly unsuitable for weather conditions such as the desert. Did they have something to hide, like she did?

Rose gave a small gasp, pulling Raven out of her reverie. "We observe the physical laws that govern this world," Ed continued. "To try to learn the truth. It's ironic really, that through the application of science, we, in many ways, have been given the power to play gods ourselves."

"So you're putting yourself on the same level as God?" Rose turned on him now. "That's just…" she groped for a word, "sheer arrogance!"

Ed just kept on pressing her, retelling the story of the man who tried to fly. "He thought that he could touch the sun. But when he got too close, his wax wings melted and he came crashing back down to Earth. Right, Al?"

Al had remained oddly silent throughout the entire conversation, Raven noted. She wondered if he didn't have any thoughts on the topic, or maybe he just didn't want to offend anyone. Either way, he still said nothing, but a quiet reply of "Right, brother." It was obviously a good enough answer for Ed, as he got up from the bench and stretched.

"I'm sorry miss," he said politely. "This is difficult for me to ask, but do you think your Father Cornello could even save an arrogant scientist like me?" He bowed formally.

"Of course!" Rose exclaimed. "That's wonderful! I bet that he would even forgive you, Raven, for your contradictions. If anyone can lead you two to the creator's light, he can!"

"Right," Raven mumbled under her breath. She still was debating whether or not it was a good idea to be here in the church so close to Cornello, and now Ed had dropped the bomb of meeting with the big man. It was tough for her to put her fate in the hands of this boy she barely knew, but she had to believe that he could get a hold of Cornello's ring. If he did, then it meant freedom that was two years overdue. If not… she didn't even want to think about it.

* * *

><p>"This way please," Cray said as he led them down a dark hallway and pushed open a huge set of double doors. "Father Cornello, as you can imagine, is a very busy man."<p>

Ed, Al, and Rose all walked in a tight formation behind him while Raven was hauled along by Cray, who had a firm grip on her arm. As she expected, the instant he saw her, he was at her side, handcuffs in hand, and snapped them over her wrists. Even though she saw it coming, she was still silently fuming about being escorted by the man like she was a child. Through it all, he never loosened his tight grip on her, and never once turned a blind eye in her direction. It was a little creepy, to have one eye on her the whole time while the other looked straight ahead. Creeper.

"But you're in luck," he continued. "He's decided to spare a moment for you."

"Yeah, thanks," Ed said. "We understand. We won't take too much of his time."

"Good," Cray said smoothly. "Then it's agreed." His hand reached inside his coat, and Raven felt her heartbeat flutter for a moment. "We'll make this quick."

The doors behind them shut with a bang. Raven didn't dare tear her eyes away from Cray's arm, afraid that if she did, something would happen and she would notice too late. In one swift motion, Cray drew his arm back out from his coat, a gun in hand, and whirled around, pointing the barrel straight at Al's head. A set of spears blocked Ed's way as he was surrounded by two other guards. Somehow, Raven managed to stay standing after following Cray's momentum with her hands cuffed behind her.

Rose cried out. "Father Cray! What is this? What do you think you're doing?"

"Rose, these heathens have come to ensnare and discredit the Father. They have even turned his own niece against him. They are evil. This is God's will," he said silkily.

"Well, like you said," Ed snarled. "Let's make this quick!" He flung the two guards aside and advanced on Cray. He swung his right fist back, and smashed it into Cray's face. Cray dropped to the ground like a rock, almost taking Raven down with him. She quickly twisted free from his grasp before Ed's fist connected with his mouth, and rolled to the side. She traced a transmutation circle in the air with her finger, and her shackles became a wickedly sharp dagger.

"Strike!" Ed grinned. "Nice moves Raven. I thought for sure he was gonna use you as a mat to land on!"

Her mouth twitched up. "Very funny, Elric. How about next time you give me some warning before you go and punch the guy that's holding me up in the face," she said through her teeth, and pointed her knife at Ed's forehead.

He laughed nervously, a sweat drop forming on his face. "This makes us even now for that time you electrocuted me."

She sighed dramatically. "Fine."

"What's this commotion?" a voice boomed from behind them.

They all turned to see Cornello emerge from the shadows. "Ah, the Fullmetal Alchemist. Welcome to the home of our sacred order," he said with false warmth in his voice that only Raven could detect.

Rose gazed up at him with earnest eyes. "Father Cornello!" she exclaimed.

"I must apologize for my disciple's behavior," he went on. "It would seem they've been misguided."

"Let's say I believe you weren't the one guiding them," Ed replied defiantly back. "What next?"

Cornello didn't seem fazed. "Have you come to learn the ways of Leto?"

"Well, there are a few things I'm curious about. Like how you've been using second-rate alchemy to deceive your followers."

"My dear boy, I don't know what you mean. Look again," he said, and cupped his hands together. When he opened them, a miniature statue of Leto was in his palm. "Could alchemy create something from nothing in this way?"

Rose seemed reassured by his words, but Raven knew that she would be sorely disappointed in the end. "Yeah, that's what I didn't get at first. How can you perform transmutations that ignore the law of equivalent exchange?"

"As I said!" Cornello slammed the statue down. "Because it isn't alchemy!"

"But then I started thinking about it…" Ed continued as if he hadn't spoken. "If you'd somehow managed to acquire a certain object to amplify your alchemy, one that's said to make the impossible possible… that would explain everything."

"What?" Cornello said in disbelief.

"The Philosopher's Stone," Raven affirmed Ed's theory. "Your ring."

The room was silent for a moment as Cornello glared at her furiously. Then, Ed began walking forward, toward Cornello. "I've been looking for that," he said.

Cornello tried to dismiss it as false, but no one was fooled. Even Rose was beginning to have doubts.

"Still trying to sell out those old lines?" Ed's face had taken on a somewhat crazed look. "If that's the way you want to play, I'll have to come up there and beat some truth out of you!"

Cornello gazed down on him disdainfully, as if he were a cockroach he saw skittering across his path. "You truly are quite the incorrigible little heathen, aren't you? Rose, dear."

"Yes," she said, transfixed on his face.

Cornello grinned. "That gun there, beside you. Pick it up."

She obeyed him.

"Now child, I want you to shoot the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Rose stared at him, frightened. "No Father. I- I can't do that!"

He assured her that it was the will of Leto for her to shoot. "Why hesitate, when you lost your fiancé to that tragic accident last year. Who was it that saved you from the very depths of despair? Have you forgotten?"

Rose was trembling now. "It was you, Father."

"That's right. It was I who took your hand and led you into God's light. And do you recall what it was that I promised you then?"

"You said that if I had faith you would bring him back to life!" she shouted, and pointed the gun at Alphonse.

"No, wait!" he cried. "It's not me! Honest!"

Rose lowered the gun, then slowly turned to face Ed, who was red in the face. "Damn it! I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist! Not him! It's ME!" he screamed.

"It's the short one? You're kidding!" Cornello looked dumbfounded.

Raven laughed once humorlessly. "I'm surrounded by idiots!" she yelled to no one in particular. "An obese priest that doesn't even know what the hell he's talking about; a girl that actually thinks the dead can be brought back to life and not look like flesh-eating zombies; a guy with hair I'd kill for with a temper that's too big for his nonexistent height. Am I and the guy in a suit of armor the only sane ones here?" she vented.

Rose leveled the gun in her hands, cutting off more remarks that threatened to force their way out of Raven's mouth. "I have to do this. I don't have any choice."

"He's been lying to you, Rose," Raven urged.

"You're wrong! I've seen his miracles! Father Cornello will bring him back to life! I have faith!"

Ed's eyes darkened. "Then go on. Shoot," he dared her.

Rose squeezed her eyes shut, then pulled the trigger. A loud crack resounded through the room, and Al's helmet to his armor tumbled down to the ground, along with the rest of his metal suit.

"Al!" Raven cried out. The gun tumbled out of Rose's hand and she began to shriek.

"Now, pick up the gun and shoot the other one as well," Cornello ordered.

"Haven't you made her do enough already?" an innocent, childlike voice said. It was Al, who was now pulling himself into a sitting position. Raven's mind was reeling. How could he have survived that? She saw an unworried Ed's face, and was immediately confused. Rose stammered incoherently.

"Don't worry, he's pretty solid," Ed rapped his knuckle on his brother's armor. It echoed dully as if there was nothing inside. But that was impossible... wasn't it?

"Yeah. See," he pointed inside his armor. "No harm done."

The armor was empty.

"This evil must be purged!" Cornello threw down a switch, and out of nowhere, a chimera appeared. It circled the group hungrily.

Ed didn't look worried one bit as he clapped his hands together, and pressed his palms down into the ground. A long spear began to take form out of the ground.

_Alchemy without a transmutation circle?_ Raven thought. She knew only a handful of people that could do such a thing, and was surprised to see it happening right in front of her. Though she didn't technically need to draw transmutation circles with chalk, she could still draw them in the air with her finger. What she was seeing now was much more impressive than her way of doing alchemy. Ed evaded the chimera's attacks with seemingly no effort, until the beast swiped at his leg with its paw, cutting straight through the shaft of his spear and through the leg of his pants. He kicked the beast with the same leg, sending it several feet away from him. "I guess those claws don't do much against steel," he mused. Raven could see the shining metal under the scraps of cloth dangling pitifully on his leg. _What the hell...?_

Next, the chimera tried to take a chomp out of him. Ed raised his arm, and its teeth sank into his right arm. "Get a good taste!" Ed kicked the thing away from him again, but this time, it didn't get back up. Ed's coat that covered his arm was now just as shredded as his pants, and Raven could see even more metallic-looking pieces underneath.

"It's all becoming clear now…" Cornello mused. Raved watched in awe as Ed threw off his coat, revealing his bare arms. Where his right arm and left leg should have been, where flesh and blood should have been, was automail. Mechanical limbs. "You did it, didn't you? The one thing even the most novice alchemist knows is strictly forbidden!"

"Why don't you come down here and try me," Ed challenged. "I'll show you quick who the novice is!"

Cornello didn't seem to notice Ed's words. "These fools attempted human transmutation, the greatest taboo for any alchemist."

Ed just stared defiantly back at him, his mouth mashed together in a tight line.

Raven looked away. All of a sudden, she felt as if the universe was laughing at her, right then. The automail. Human transmutation. The Elric brothers. Alchemy. All of it. _I guess the past will always catch up to me, no matter where I go_, she thought somberly.

"You're not even half man," Cornello went on. "Hell, you're not even half boy! And the same goes to your little friend, the 'Iron Haste Alchemist'," he sneered at her name.

That caught everyone's attention. "What?' Ed asked quietly.

Raven didn't answer him. She didn't even look at him. All she could do was glare menacingly at Cornello. "You bastard," she spat, advancing on him.

"Tut, tut, now," he reached inside his pocket, and pulled out a black remote. "You wouldn't want to try anything funny now, would you? You can't argue with me either. You're no better than these two fools!"

"Shut up!" she screamed. "You can go straight to hell!"

"Raven, what is he talking about?" Ed pressed.

"It is exactly as I said," Cornello answered for her. "She is just as guilty as you in the crimes of heresy. You really want to play God? Then perhaps I shall send you to meet him instead!" He turned his cane into a heavy-artillery machine gun, then opened fire on them.


	3. Painfully Inhuman

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, much to my misfortune and depression. **

**Seize the Rain: Thanks so much for the review; I'm glad you like it so far. Yes, Raven has done much bad in her life, but that's for later...**

**MidnightStrikezMyHeart: I have an amazing talent for ending almost all my chapters with cliffhangers. Not always the best thing, but I figure it may keep people interested longer. I don't know... it sounded so much better in my mind XP.**

**Keep the reviews coming! Me likes them very much! Yes, I do have the mentality of a five-year-old, for those of you wondering.**

* * *

><p>"Get Rose out of here!" Raven shouted over the thundering of the machine gun as she transmuted a thick barrier from the ground, shielding herself and Edward. Al nodded, then scooped a screaming Rose into his arms and sprinted over to the wall. Bullets ricocheted off his armor in all directions, which did nothing to calm Rose down. Raven then turned and locked eyes with Ed. He nodded grimly, and prepared to make a run for it.<p>

There was something about his face, Raven noted. He looked as if something was nagging him. Something besides being shot at. "Ready?" he asked, his voice tight. She nodded. "Go!"

They ran at full speed toward the wall, somehow managing to dodge the bullets whizzing by them. Just before they ran straight into the wall, Ed clapped his hands together, then thrust them into the granite. The rock began to take on a new form, this one of a door. Raven quickly shouldered it open, and ran down the hallway, Ed and Al at her heels.

She rounded the corner, and screeched to a stop. About a dozen guards were blocking the path, all of them with their guns trained on her head. Ed saw them, then smirked mischievously.

"I got this," he said, and Raven raised an eyebrow at him as he marched up to the men with guns. He grinned at them and transmuted his automail arm into what looked like a wide sword.

One look at his arm, and the guards dropped their weapons, gasping in shock. Ed laughed at their reaction, and Raven found the corners of her mouth playing at a half smile.

From there, it was almost too easy to make a clean getaway. No one else stopped them, and they didn't run into anyone else. They could've skipped out of the place for its lack of security. Once they got to the center of the city, they slowed down from their walk, and found a place to hide.

Surprisingly enough, Rose didn't run away screaming after Al finally put her down on her own two feet. On the contrary, she was silent ever since they left Cornello's. Rose wasn't the only one being uncharacteristically quiet. Raven had not uttered a single word since the confrontation between them and Cornello. It didn't help that Ed's automail arm was still visible, and he was continuously glancing at her, his expression unreadable.

"Hey, Al," Ed called to his brother. "Why don't you start setting up the speakers? Raven and I are gonna give this city a wake-up call."

Al agreed, and swiftly went to work with Rose watching him. Ed half-pushed, half-dragged Raven away, who looked completely spaced out.

When she finally realized what he was doing, she dug her heels in. "Why are you touching me?" she asked irritably.

"Because you didn't seem capable of walking on your own," he replied, swiftly putting two feet of space between them.

"Whatever," she shrugged, following him down an alley.

He froze, and then turned around to face her. "We need to talk."

Raven blinked. "Now?"

"Now," he said seriously. "What happened back there?"

Raven avoided his gaze and didn't answer.

"I need to know. What was Cornello talking about?" he urged.

Silence.

"Why won't you talk?" he said, exasperated.

"Why should I have to talk?" Raven asked.

"Because you owe me an explanation."

"I don't have to explain anything to you."

"The hell you don't," Ed growled, getting angry now.

"I don't even know you!" Raven shot back.

"Well, maybe if you explained a few things, you could."

"I shouldn't have to explain myself to anyone. Least of all, you," she snarled.

"And you shouldn't be acting like a total bitch, yet, here you are!" Ed threw up his hands, his rage growing by the second.

Raven's was too. "Don't even act like you know me. You know nothing about me!" She tried to run past him.

"Wait! Hold on a second!" Ed grabbed a hold of the left sleeve of her jacket and tugged lightly on it, but it was enough. As she tried to dart around him, her sleeve ripped clean off, the cloth still in Ed's grip.

She stumbled a little, but didn't fall. She didn't even try to run again. All she could do was stare in surprise as Ed looked down at her bare arm.

Or, what should have been an arm. Ed blinked once to see if his eyes were playing tricks on him. They weren't. From the elbow down, where flesh and blood and bone should have been, was metal. Her arm was made of automail, just like his. It wasn't as advanced as his- since she hadn't seen a mechanic in two years- but it was perfectly functional. Though it was worn from much use, at least it wasn't rusting. Ed tore his eyes away from Raven's arm to her face, looking slightly dazed.

"Your arm…" he breathed. "Let me see something," he advanced on Raved.

She took a step away from him. "Hey, what are you-"

Ed reached out and began pulling on her jacket roughly, trying to rip it off of her. Raven tried ducking out of his reach, but his hand snagged a fistful of the collar. He yanked it off, and took in a sharp breath.

He was expecting to see the transmitter on her arm that gave her shock treatments, but he was wrong. He thought that only her left arm was replaced with automail, but again, he was wrong. Raven's right arm, from the elbow down, was the same as her left.

More metal.

Ed tried to form a coherent thought, but with no success. He stared, his mouth slightly open at her fake limbs, then up at Raven's face.

Just in time to see her left fist smash into his face. He staggered backward, barely managing to keep from falling down.

"What the hell are you doing, trying to take my clothes off you perverted buttmunch?" Raven fumed. Her whole body was shaking in barely controlled rage.

Gently touching a hand to his face, Ed could already feel a bruise forming where she had hit him. "It was just your jacket. And _what_ did you call me?"

She grit her teeth. "I am going to kill you, you buttmunching asshole!" Raven made a move to punch him again, but he was quicker this time around, snagging hold of her clenched fist.

"I don't want to fight you," he said, holding her fist in his hand and trying to force it away from his face. "I just want to talk."

"Well, that makes one of us." Raven swung her leg in an arch at Ed's feet, knocking him to the ground. He still had a hold of her fist, so as he fell, she went down with him.

"Get off me!" Raven squirmed away from Ed.

"I'm sorry!" he amended.

They sat there in silence for a while, neither of them meeting the other's eye.

"So what happened?" Ed asked, still not looking at her.

Looking down at her hands, Raven clenched and unclenched them. "I can't talk about it."

Ed looked over at her now, her figure huddled in on itself, hugging her knees to her chest, her chin resting on her automail arms. He felt a stab of familiarity when he looked at her this way, so closed off from the world, so alone. "You know how I lost my arm and leg: human transmutation. It's only fair that you tell me how you lost your arms."

"Equivalent exchange," Raven mused.

"Exactly. I gave you information, so now you have to give some back."

"Alright," Raven sighed.

Ed picked up his head. "Really?"

Pretending to think about it, Raven put a finger to her bottom lip, the face of one lost in thought. "Hmm… maybe… in the future."

"Why not now?" Ed whined.

She stood up. "Because," she offered him her hand, "if we're gonna rattle Cornello's cage, we'd better hurry," she smiled gently.

His eyes darted from her open, yet faraway face, to her hand, then back again. Grinning, he took her outstretched arm. "You know that I'll be sure to hold you to that, right?"

Hauling Ed to his feet, Raven's smile widened. "Yeah. I know."

* * *

><p><em>"A fake?"<em>

Staring in awe and horror at the shattered fragments at the ruby red stone, Raven felt her stomach drop. _Where did it all go wrong?_ she thought desperately. She and Ed had successfully broadcast Cornello's scheme of using his followers to build himself an army that would willingly lay down their lives in utter devotion to him. Everyone in Lior had heard him, thanks to Al, who had set up the entire broadcasting system. After discovering that they had made a complete fool out of him, Cornello attacked Raven and Ed. The fight quickly became a battle for his ring, for the Philosopher's Stone. Finally, Ed and Raven had Cornello trapped, and in defeat, he was ready to hand his ring over to them.

That's when things took a turn for the worst.

What they thought was the Philosopher's Stone, had burst into tiny shards just before Ed could reach out his fingers to even touch it. Everything they had worked for… it was all gone before they could even have it.

Raven took in shallow breaths, but it wasn't because she was tired. On the contrary, she felt a spark of energy rekindling her inside, fueling her fury. "Is there anything about you that isn't fake?" she spat venomously at Cornello, her fists shaking.

Ed was still staring at the tiny bits of the stone, which was now slowly turning to dust. He looked totally exasperated. "_Stop jerking me AROUND_!" he screamed, startling Raven, Cornello and even himself.

After a few minute's worth of silence, a disheveled-looking Cornello fidgeted. "Umm… can I go now?" he squeaked.

"Get out of here!" Ed yelled, throwing his arms up in vexation.

Cornello scrambled to his feet, but only got two steps away before he was pulled backward. "Not yet, you don't," Raven growled, spinning him around to face her.

"What more do you want from me?" he said shakily.

Narrowing her eyes at him, Raven replied through her teeth. "I want this," she pointed to the transmitter on her arm, "off me."

"Why should I?" Cornello replied smugly.

She grinned darkly, transmuting her automail arm into a two and a half foot long blade that ended in a deadly sharp point. Pointing it at his face, she could see a glimmer of fear in his eyes. She liked it like that. "Because for every five seconds you don't, I'll cut off a finger."

Cornello gulped. "Alright, alright," he held his hands up in surrender. He fished a small key about the size of a sewing needle out of his pocket. "Lift up your arm." She did, and saw that on the back of the device, there was a small keyhole. Her jaw dropped as Cornello inserted the key, turned it, heard it click, and the thing fell to the ground.

"It was locked with a _key_?" If she had known that, Raven would have picked the lock years ago. "It was that simple?" she fumed. Raven glared down at the pieces of metal, and then began stomping on them with her boot until it became an unidentifiable pile of scraps. She turned her head slowly around to a frozen Cornello. "What are you still doing here? Get lost!" she roared.

He scrambled away from her, constantly tripping over his own two feet, screaming the whole time.

Finally satisfied, Raven turned back to Ed, her shoulders tense. He was gazing at her with an eyebrow arched, which made her instantly wary. "What?" she asked innocently.

"Nothing," Ed laughed, easily amused by her mood swings.

"Brother!" a voice called.

They both turned to see Al racing toward them, slowing to a stop as he took in the area around him. Cornello's once-luxurious temple was in shambles, broken chunks of marble, granite, and cement littered the ground everywhere. Both Ed and Raven's coats had been lost in the fray, and they both were a little scratched up, but neither was bleeding or had any serious injuries.

Even though Raven couldn't see Al's face, she could almost feel his eyes on her bare arms. She had almost forgotten that her right arm was still a sword. Tracing a circle with her finger, she transmuted her arm back to its original automail form.

"You have automail too," Al said in wonder.

Raven nodded, then grinned. "Hey, Al, that reminds me," she pointed to Ed and put on her sweetest and most innocent face. "Your brother tried to take my clothes off!" she pouted.

"Edward!" Al gasped, smacking him in the back of the head. "How could you?"

Ed rubbed the back of his head, glaring daggers at Raven. "I did not!"

"You took off my jacket against my will," she argued.

He rolled his eyes. "It's a jacket. That doesn't count!"

"Still, it was against my will," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"I thought so."

"Shrimp," Raven stuck her tongue out at Ed.

There was a single second where the world was at a complete standstill. Then, as fast as it had come, it was gone. "I am not a SHRIMP!" Ed shrieked, flailing his arms around wildly. "I'm still growing, you freaking screwhead!"

Instead of snapping back at him, Raven laughed hysterically to the point where she was bent over, her arm clutching her stomach, gasping for air between giggles. "You… you never cease to amaze me, Elric," she chuckled.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What? What's so funny, Guardel?"

"I'll tell you later," she said, finally calmed down.

"No," Ed said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Tell me now."

Raven sighed, stuffing her hands in her pockets and stared at the ground. "You remind me of my brother is all," she murmured.

"Your brother?" Al said softly.

She nodded, still looking down.

Al seemed to sense her distant demeanor, seemed to know that there was more to it than mere resemblance. "What happened to him?" he asked gently.

Biting her bottom lip, Raven shook her head and said nothing.

Not wanting to upset her, Al backed off, keeping his questions to himself. Ed, however, was fed up with Raven's silence. He opened his mouth to interrogate her, but was cut short as he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

They all turned to see a trembling Rose, standing a good ten feet away. In her grip was a gun, aimed directly at Ed's head. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around the butt of the gun, stretched white over the bone despite her deeply tanned skin. Surprisingly, she managed to keep the gun steady and trained on Ed.

"Give me the Stone!" she cried desperately. Rose had a dangerously manic look in her eye, as if she was half-crazed. Raven was silently grateful for the distraction Rose had caused, turning the Elrics' attention away from her. If only she hadn't used a gun to do it, though.

"We don't have it," Ed replied evenly, not at all concerned about the gun in Rose's hand.

Rose shook her head furiously. "Liar! I know you have it! You just want to keep it all to yourselves!"

"Umm… Rose?" Raven poked her head around Al's armor. "If we really had the Stone, do you think that we'd still look like this?" she asked dubiously. "

A look of surprise flashed across the other girl's face. "'We'?" Rose said shakily. Once again, she was confused by Raven's usage of plurals.

Raven stepped out from behind Al, revealing her prosthetic arms from behind her back. As she took in Raven's appearance, Rose gasped in horror, not even bothering to hide her obvious revulsion. Though she had convinced herself that she no longer cared about what Rose thought of her, Raven couldn't help but feel a stab of offense. She was looking at Raven as if she wasn't… human. And that cut through Raven much deeper than she would like to admit.

"You're all liars!" Rose flung her words at them. "You just want to use it on your bodies! That's right!" She faced the two brothers. "And so you can try and bring your mother back again!"

Ed stared at her incredulously, which quickly turned to rage. "You shut up!" he spat. Now it was Rose's turn to look surprised as a pained look came upon his face. When he spoke, his voice sounded tight, as if he were fighting tears. "People don't come back from the dead, Rose. Not ever. _Not ever_."

Rose fell to her knees, looking as lost and alone and small as a child. "But… he promised me… he said if I prayed, it would happen…" She broke down and cried.

Staring at the broken girl with pity in her eyes, Raven wished that Rose could understand. Alchemists, of all people, would know about loss; it's a part of equivalent exchange. But someone like Rose compared to Ed or Al… there was no comparison. _And even though they've all lost precious things_, Raven thought to herself, _none of them have _anything_ on me._

Tears streamed down Rose's face, and Raven bit back another pang of pity that threatened to overtake her. "Tell me… what… what do I do?" Rose blubbered. "Tell me what to do! Please!"

Ed and Al walked slowly, deliberately past her, with an uncertain Raven trailing behind. "I can't answer that. Think about that on your own," Ed urged her gently. "Stand up and walk. Move on. Walk on your own two feet."

Raven gazed at Ed in wonder. She found it hard to believe that words like that were coming from a teenage boy's mouth. He sounded so much older. Not only that, but at that moment, as Raven looked at him, she wasn't seeing a young child. She saw the man within him.


	4. Stubborn Silence

They left Rose there, staring at her own pool of tears as if it held all the answers; As if the solutions to her questions would rise to the surface and help her move on, but Raven knew that Rose already had her answer.

Walk on your own two feet.

Ed's words echoed through her mind as they came to the entrance of Lior. Normally, the city would be filled with noise as people walked through the streets, going through the motions of the hustle and bustle of their everyday lives. But the city was silent, no doubt due to the uproar she, Ed, and Al had caused with Cornello. At any other time, Raven would have enjoyed the quiet, but this time, she felt no comfort. The silence was just too… loud.

To set her unnerved feeling aside, she interrogated the brothers about what Rose had said about bringing their mother back to life. As they explained the death of their mother to her and how in their misery and loneliness they had attempted human transmutation when they were only kids, Raven couldn't help but be amazed. To perform such an act against the flow of nature at such a young age, they clearly had nerves of steel. Ed told her that after he lost his leg and his brother lost his entire body in the failed process, he still managed to steal his brother's soul back and bond it to a suit of armor before it was too late, his right arm the toll. They had made it their mission to seek out the Philosopher's Stone in order to obtain their original bodies back, hence Edward becoming a State Certified Alchemist at age twelve. Anything to better their chances at finding the Stone, he told her.

Raven paused halfway out the gate. Sensing that she was no longer following them, the two brothers stopped and turned around, waiting for her expectantly.

"What happens now?" Raven asked numbly.

Ed and Al shared a glance, and then nodded in agreement. "We're heading back to East City to report what we've found here," Ed replied.

"I see…" Raven mumbled, glancing to the side.

The boys watched her in silence for a few moments, and then Al took a step toward her. "What are you waiting for?" he asked curiously.

Raising her eyes to his, Raven cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"You're coming with us, aren't you?" Ed smiled tentatively at her.

She blinked, stunned. "Go… with you?"

Ed chuckled quietly. "Well, yeah. We can't just leave a damsel in distress here on her own. Besides," Raven raised an eyebrow. "You still need to tell us your story," he reminded her.

Raven grinned. He had never planned on allowing her to simply walk away, and now, he was making sure that she didn't. "How long have you been planning this?"

"For a while," Ed replied with a smile. "So," he held out his hand, "are you coming or not?"

Raven hesitated. She wanted nothing more than to finally return to the outside world beyond Lior, wanted to hightail it out of the city that had served as her prison for two years. But, there was something she had to do first.

She held up her index finger. "Just give me a second. I'll be right back." Raven started to head back into Lior, then paused mid-step, and turned back around. "You'll wait for me, right?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course we will," Al said warmly. "We'll still be here when you get back."

Raven smiled, then took off again. "Thank you," she murmured under her breath.

Racing through the city for the second time today- though for very different reasons- Raven finally came to a stop at a somewhat-intact stone structure. For the past two years, it had been the closest thing to a home she had ever known. She pushed open the wooden double doors, and walked through the empty lobby, her footsteps echoing dully through the barren halls. At the end of the hall, Raven shrugged open the ornate doors of Cornello's study.

It was decorated humbly, with little more than a plain wooden desk, a few modestly stocked bookshelves, and an alter resting in the corner. Cornello had purposely chosen not to adorn it with lavish decorations to make him appear unselfish. It was just another ploy to win over the natives, and nothing more.

Raven crossed the room over to the desk, knowing exactly where to find what she was looking for. Pulling open the middle drawer on the right, she found it sitting on top of stacks of meaningless paperwork. Wrapping her fingers around it, she instantly felt her spirit lift. In the past, when she would sneak in to try to steal it out of Cornello's desk, she would always get electrocuted every time she touched it. But now that she was free…

She held the object in her palm, silver against silver. Small and circular, it had several engravings in its face, and a metal chain attached to the top of it.

Her State Alchemist pocket watch.

Carefully placing it in her pants pocket, she attached the chain to her belt loop. Now that she finally had it back after all these years, Raven had no intention of parting with it anytime soon. Or at all, for that matter.

Grinning, she dashed out of the building, not looking back once as the city flew by her in a whirl of grey and tan- colors of the desert. She didn't plan on bringing anything else besides her watch with her, mainly because she had nothing else besides the watch. That, and she wanted to leave all her ties with Lior behind her.

It's not as if she hated the place- besides Cornello, Lior was a quaint and charming little town. It was just that she didn't want to be reminded of the past. Not of her past in Lior, her past with Cornello, her parents… her brother…

_No_, she clamped a lid on her thoughts. _Today, I get my life back. Today, life is good. I can't ruin it with thoughts of the past._

Biting back the well of emotions inside her, Raven pushed on until she arrived at the city gates. Her heart skipped a beat. _Did they…_

"That was fast."

She smiled when she saw Al's figure towering over Ed's smaller one, both of them leaning casually against the clay brick wall that surrounded Lior.

Ed detached himself from the wall, carefully scrutinizing Raven. "What, did you just run around for a while? I thought you were going back to get something."

Stuffing her hands in her pockets, Raven shrugged. "I did," she said, wrapping her fingers around the pocket watch. Even though her arms were made of metal, she swore she could still feel the thing ticking like a tiny heartbeat.

"Well? Where is it?" Ed asked curiously.

Raven shrugged again, the watch's chain rattling quietly as she did so. Ed's eyes darted to the chain, and she felt Al turn his gaze toward it too.

Ed smiled a knowing smile. "So, you're ready now?"

She nodded. "Wait," she said, holding up a hand as she approached Ed. When she came within a few feet of him, she paused and slugged his arm, making sure it wasn't the one outfitted with a prosthetic. Smiling contently to herself as he rubbed his aching shoulder, she chirped, "Okay, we cam go now."

"What was that for?" Ed complained, pouting slightly.

Smirking at him with a smug expression, Raven answered simply, "For calling me a damsel in distress."

Laughing quietly, Al offered Raven his hand, and she took it graciously. "Alright then. Next stop, East City," he said expectantly.

_No turning back now._

"Now?"

"No."

"How 'bout now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"I swear on my life that I will rip off your arm and beat you to death with it if you ask me that again!" Raven banged her head against the glass window.

They had hitched a ride at the nearest train station for the earliest arrival to East City. Night had fallen, and pale moonlight seeped through the window, dimly illuminating the cart. Besides the three alchemists, there wasn't much for other passengers. Everyone else had fallen asleep, so Ed had decided to start questioning Raven. So far, he wasn't having a speck of luck after interrogating her for the past half-hour, and she had kept her silent demeanor.

"Will you talk now-" he began again.

Raven whipped out her pocket watch and smacked him in the face with it right between his eyes. A red mark spread quickly across his face, and his face fell. "Ow," he moaned, putting pressure on the spot.

Sighing, Raven crossed her arms. "Well, what did you expect? I told you not to…" she trailed off, grinning widely.

Squinting at her with bemused eyes, he said, "Are you sure you're a girl? You seem much too violent to be one."

She raised an eyebrow. "If I'm not a girl, then why were you trying to take my clothes off?" she countered.

"You- you- let it go already!" he stuttered, blushing beet red.

Rolling her eyes and laughing quietly, Raven replied, "Fine. Just try not to touch me ever again."

Ed chuckled a little, and Raven joined him. After a few seconds, she broke off, her face deathly serious. "But, seriously though, don't touch me," she said gravely.

His laughed died in his throat and sweat dewed on his forehead. He did not attempt to point out that for someone who did not like others touching her, she had no problem beating on others and coming into physical contact with them. To point it out would probably mean another slug in the arm, and he was already getting too many bruises from the girl as it was.

Al cocked his head to the side. "Why don't you like people?" he asked in his childlike voice.

Raven blinked, amazed. It surprised her how well Alphonse could read her- like an open book. She turned to stare numbly out the window, gazing at nothing in particular. "Because the only people that gave me a reason to like others are dead. Now, I have no reason to trust, much less like people." She glanced back at the two boys, a dead look in her eyes. "It's hard to trust others when they treat you like a dog," she half-smiled, but it didn't touch her eyes.

Ed and Al exchanged a knowing glance. "You can trust us," they said warmly.

She shook her head sadly. "No. I can't" she stared glumly at her mechanical hands and shivered. Desert nights were always freezing, and without her jacket, Raven was chilled to the bone and her automail ached. She closed her eyes, picturing the warm sun wrapping blankets of heat around her- a clever trick her younger brother had taught her years ago.

There was a rustling sound if front of her, and Raven felt something being draped over her shoulders. She opened her eyes to see an automail arm, palm up, held up next to hers. The seat next to her was now occupied by Ed, who had wrapped his coat around her. His face was open and full of warmth, his eyes gentle and understanding. "Yes," he held his mechanical arm up in comparison to hers. "You can." He smiled a little.

Raven felt her corner of her mouth edge upward, mirroring his smile. She nodded. "Thank you," she murmured.

"We're not like others," Al continued. "We're different, as you can see," he gestured to his and his brother's bodies. "We probably understand how you feel better than most people. Our mother died when we were young, and our dad left us years before. When she passed, we were left alone for a long time."

Raven could feel Ed tense beside her when Al had mentioned their father. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his jaw clench, and the vein in his neck pulsed with restrained anger. He must have felt her eyes on him, but he didn't look up from the ground, his mouth mashed in a hard line.

Folding her hands in her lap, Raven took a deep breath. "My parents were both murdered when I was seven, by a pair of serial killers. They got my younger brother, too. He was six." She paused, mechanically waiting for tears to sting her eyes and unwillingly well over. None came. "I had been studying alchemy with him for a while, so after he died, I kept up with my alchemy training. When I was practicing, I felt that even though he was gone, when I did it, I was still connected to him. I somehow knew that if I gave up on alchemy, he'd be ashamed…

"So I did the stupidest thing that I possibly could: I became a State Alchemist when I turned thirteen. It was a dumb move to become the military's lapdog when I was so young, but when I was given my name, Iron Haste, I felt like I had a purpose again, a reason to go on. I just didn't expect all the trouble that it would cause me," she grimaced at her hands.

"What do you mean?" Ed gave her a sidelong look.

Al leaned forward expectantly. "What happened?"

Raven sighed. "It's a long story. I'll tell you some of it now, then the rest later."

"Deal," they agreed.

She sighed again, resting her head against the glass. "After my parents and brother died, the only family I had left was my aunt and uncle. But the relationship between my parents and aunt were pretty strained. I knew that she wouldn't take me in, so I never said much to her after the funerals.

"She's an amazing alchemist, and I thought that if she found out that I had become a State Alchemist at thirteen, then she'd be proud of me and let me stay with her. But when I told her, she completely flipped out. When my uncle asked her what was going on, she just glared at me, and said 'Nothing. I'm just putting the dog out.' I never saw her again after that," Raven finished quietly.

There was a moment of silence, then Ed let out a long, low whistle. "That's one messed-up childhood," he concluded.

_You don't know the half of it_, she added in her mind.

"How is it you ended up working for Cornello in the first place?" Al questioned.  
>Raven had to think back to recall her own story. "I was on a train, heading out for my next assignment when I saw him. He said something about my expression, reminded him of someone that had long-since lost their way and lost their faith along with it." She shook her head. "Even back then, he was selling the same old lines about God as if he actually exists," she scoffed.<p>

Ed raised an eyebrow. "You're an atheist then?" he stated more than asked.

Chuckling once humorlessly to herself, she remarked, "You try living in my shoes for a year or two, see if you still acknowledge His existence. Anyway," she forced herself to return to the original question, "Cornello gave me some tea, said it would 'soothe my soul' or something like that. Turns out he spiked it with some really strong sedatives, knocked me out, and when I woke up I had a shock collar on my arm and I was told to roll over and obey. Same old crap, just a different pile," she sighed tiredly. "It was either stick with him and live as his guard dog or get my brain fried. Clearly, I went with the 'better option'. Sure, I stayed alive, but considering all the hassles I went through, I wonder if any of it was actually worth it." As she said the last part, the brothers weren't sure if she was speaking of her deal with Cornello or joining the military. Probably both.

"So, how did you loose your arms?" Al inquired.

Raven yawned. "I'll tell you later," she mumbled. "Mind if I get some sleep?"

"Go ahead."

Pulling the coat around her tighter, Raven tried with little success in getting comfortable. She ended up leaning against the window, the cold glass biting her cheek. In less time than she thought possible, she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Ed watched her carefully as she slipped into unconsciousness. He watched as her breathing gradually slowed and deepened, and knew that she had finally gone under.

"What do you think happened to her?" his brother asked softly as Raven shuddered in her sleep.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "But it's obviously big. Big enough to maybe get her killed."

Al watched his brother in silence. He knew that whatever Raven was hiding, Ed would uncover it. He was stubborn that way. The only thing that Al was worried about, was how long Raven would retain her stubborn silence. Al stifled a sigh; he knew he was in for a long wait.

When Raven blinked her eyes open, she half-expected to find herself back in her old room in Cornell's temple, white walls that were, like the rest of the room, empty and bare as a monk's cell. She had been dreaming of that room- well, it was a nightmare, really. Her worst memories collided with one of the many places that she most despised. Every time she closed her eyes, images imprinted themselves behind her lids; blood, her mother screeching at her, her father pushing her down into the dirt, her younger brother's small and lifeless form in her arms, thousands of eyes watching her every move… and the horror of knowing it was all her fault. Her dreams terrified her more than reality, and they were so much harsher.

She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the garish scenes away, and hugged her makeshift blanket tighter, nuzzling her head against something hard and slightly warm on her left. Her eyebrows furrowed as she examined what she was leaning against.

What she thought was a jacket, was actually an arm.

An automail arm.

Raven's eyes widened to the size of golf balls, her eyebrows shooting up. Slowly, she began detangling herself from Ed, silently praying that she didn't wake him up in the process. When she had finally pried herself off, she realized that his head was resting on top of hers. She mentally cursed herself, feeling her cheeks flush red hot.

As she was trying to figure how to get herself out of the awkward situation, Raven felt a pair of eyes trained on her intently. She glanced across from her to see Al's armor shaking with barely contained laughter.

She stared at him with pleading eyes, mouthing 'help.' Al only shrugged, and continued quivering silently. Raven made a mental note to get her revenge on him later.

After sitting there awkwardly for another five minutes, Raven felt Ed's breathing change, and thought that he had finally woken up. Instead, he surprised her by burying his face in her shoulder, like a frightened child would to their mother.

"I'm sorry," he murmured just loudly enough for Raven to hear. She opened her mouth to reply, then noticed that he was still asleep, and closed it again. "I'm sorry, Mom," he whispered again.

Raven blinked, unsure of what to do. She had no experience when it came to comforting, but she figured that it couldn't be too difficult. She did what felt natural to her: laid her head on top of his, and slung her arm over his shoulders. Ed seemed to relax a bit after that, but she could still hear him apologizing over and over again to his mother and his brother.

Closing her eyes, Raven no longer cared if Al was still laughing or that Ed was touching her. She could only hear Ed's muffled voice now. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

_Maybe I'm not the only one who's hurting more than I let people believe._


	5. Flaring Tempers

**Disclaimer: Oh how I wish I owned this, but then again, if I had even half the artistic talent as Arakawa, I probably wouldn't know what to do with myself.**

**Chipmunkgirl234: Yeah, I really liked the last part too. I couldn't resist throwing a cute little bonding moment between Raven and Ed.**

**Fullmetal: First off, awesome name. Yes, as you can clearly tell, I love FMA. Second, thanks so much! I have no intention on giving up on this story, so no worries there! Here's your update!**

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><p>Raven was on the verge of slipping back into unconsciousness when she felt something poking her shoulder repeatedly.<p>

"Um, Raven? What are you doing?" a muffled voice asked.

Her eyes flew open. She felt Ed squirming uncomfortably next to her. Drawing her arm back from him, Raven scooted in her seat as far from Ed as she possibly could, blushing madly.

Ed raised an eyebrow at her. "Wait, were _you_ touching _me_?" he smirked.

"Oh drop it, Elric!" she huffed, her face still red.

"So…" he nonchalantly looked her over. "What was that all about?" he grinned mischievously.

Raven grit her teeth. "Would you drop it already, buttmunch? For such a shorty, you sure are loud and annoying."

"Who are you calling a micro-sized half pint that can't even be seen under a microscope?" Ed snapped.

By now, most of the other passengers in the train with them were awake, and were now openly gaping at the arguing pair as they shouted insults at each other.

"Freaking lunchbox!" Raven screamed.

"Damn witch!" Ed countered.

"Shrimpy asshat!"

"Bipolar psycho!"

"Stop it you two!" Al ordered. "Knock it off, both of you!" He turned around slowly to see every pair of eyes on the train locked on the three. Though he was only a suit of armor, Al could feel sweat drops bead on his forehead. "Uh, nothing to see here, folks. They're only kidding! Right, brother?" Al laughed nervously.

"Why don't you spit that crap out in the toilet, where it belongs!" Ed yelled, completely ignoring his brother.

"If stupidity was a disease, you would be dead right now!" Raven retorted, her face flushed in anger.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Get a life and something to do with it!" he grumbled.

Raven crossed her arms. "Why don't you check out the store and see if they have a life for sale!"

Al threw up his arms. "Stop it! Right now! Both of you!" he yelled, finally silencing them.

The looked over at Al as if just noticing he was there. Both of them were red in the face, scowling at the other, and their hearts beating furiously. They would have kept at it all day if it had not been for Al, the only voice of reason in the group.

"You're both acting like children! It's no wonder why you're still treated like kids," Al said, exasperated.

Raven frowned at the floor and snuck a glance at Ed, who was doing the same thing. Their eyes met and held the other's gaze, a silent agreement of understanding passing between them. She had to admit, she felt like a foolish child now for arguing over- she had forgotten why they had begun arguing in the first place.

There was a moment of silence on the train before Raven finally worked up the courage to break it. "You're right," she said to Al. "I'm sorry. I'm a stubborn kid with the mentality of a five-year-old," she mumbled, shaking her head in disgust.

Ed hung his head. "I'm sorry too," he said quietly.

"You see? Was that so hard?" Al said. "You just need to learn to control your tempers. Find some other way to take out your anger instead of insulting each other."

Raven stared out the window, an idea forming in her mind. She rose from her seat. "I'll be right back," she said abruptly, not looking at Ed or Al as she did so, and walked out of the cart. Right now more than anything, she needed some air.

Stealthily climbing out a window of a deserted cart and onto the top of the train, Raven sighed. She delicately stepped to the front of the train and sat down, closing her eyes in sheer bliss. It felt so stuffy to be cramped up in the train, so she was grateful for the crisp and clean air up top. Her hair flew behind her, dancing wildly in the wind as the world raced by. She wondered how everything in her life could be changing, yet the earth remained the same. Where would her life go from here? Would it get better or worse?

She frowned, pulling her knees up to her chest. "I doubt things could get worse from this point," she said to herself.

"You shouldn't think so pessimistically."

Raven jumped slightly at the voice that suddenly appeared on her right. She didn't have to look to see who it was. "Hey, Al," she murmured.

He kneeled down beside her with surprisingly little noise. "My brother means well, it just doesn't always come out that way."

"No," Raven sighed. "I know that. It's not his fault, it's mine." She propped her chin on her knees. "I have to admit, he may bring out the worst in me, but the whole thing was really my fault."

Al shook his head. "Not entirely. Ed doesn't always know when to give it a rest. He's too stubborn."

Half-smiled, she gazed at Al wistfully.

"You miss them, don't you?"

"Miss who?"

"Your family."

Raven hesitated, biting her bottom lip. "It's… complicated," she answered.

"What's so complicated about it? They're your family… unless there's more to it," Al said knowingly.

Nodding, she said, "I miss my brother. He was the only one that even treated me like a human being. He may have been the only person I knew that even cared about me," she stated matter-of-factly.

"That can't be true…" Al trailed off.

"Yes, it can," she chuckled humorlessly. "And it is. My parents never gave a damn about me. That's how my brother and I got so close: we were the only real family we had," she said glumly.

"Do you miss him?" Al asked, not sure that he could even imagine loosing his brother like Raven had.

"Of course I do. I miss him every day." She glanced down at her automail arms and hugged her stomach. "I wish he was still here," she whispered longingly.

Al cocked his head to the side, beginning to notice an odd pattern about her. "People usually cry when they're sad. I don't have a body, so I can't cry even though sometimes I feel the need to. But you're still human. You get sad, but don't cry," he observed.

Closing her eyes, Raven once again saw the body of her younger brother, only this time it was mangled and bloody. She would always remember that image, always carry that burden with her for the rest of her life. "I don't cry because I don't have any tears left to shed. I ran out of tears when I lost my brother. I ran out of tears when I lost everything I ever cared about," she finished solemnly.

Unknown to either of them, Ed was standing right behind them. And he heard everything they had said.

"I guess all alchemists feel the same pain," he murmured under his breath. He barely heard the words himself, for there was no sound that was louder than the silence and the wind.

* * *

><p>When Raven and Al had finally climbed down from the top of the train, they found Ed waiting for them sitting exactly how they had left him. His face lit up the minute he saw them, and grinned. "You got here just in time. We'll be in East City in less than five minutes," he stated.<p>

Raven was slightly taken aback. Ed was acting as if their argument had never happened. Not that she wasn't grateful that he wasn't holding a grudge against her, but she had to question his motives. _He probably doesn't want to upset me. That, and he must know how worried I am, so he's doing what he can to keep me calmed down,_ she figured. She knew that she was only barely hiding her unease, and Ed had obviously picked up on it. _Thanks Ed_, she thought to herself. _I needed this.__  
><em>

Al slid into the seat next to his brother, which Raven was silently thankful for as she settled into the seat across from them. "Oh, and they're serving breakfast in a few," Ed said. "Why they're feeding us just before we get off, I have no idea," he stated as they were handed plates of food and beverages. A foldout table slid out from the wall, and Ed and Raven dug into their food.

Making a yuck face at her milk, she slid the glass away from her. Ed raised his eyebrows, a grin fighting its way on his face. "Don't tell me you don't like milk too," Al moaned.

"What's there to like about it? It tastes like someone ate something, puked it up, ate their puke, then puked it up again," she complained.

Ed elbowed his brother. "See Al? I'm not the only one," he smirked. His brother only sighed. "If you don't drink that liquid crap," Ed said, squinting his eyes at her, "then how come you're tall?"

Raven laughed. "I'm only, like, an inch taller than you," she giggled.

"Still, if you're taller than me, then you're tall in general. So how?" Ed demanded.

"I don't know," she stated, wagging her fork at him. "Maybe it's because I wasn't dropped on my head as a child and my growth forever stunted. Just sayin'," she added quickly as Ed narrowed his eyes at her.

Shortly after, they were herded off the train and they began to make their way through the bustling city. Ed and Al were at the lead, walking side by side with Raven trailing behind them. She took in the city: the people milling aimlessly around; the occasional State Alchemist greeting the Elrics as they passed by, giving Raven an inquisitive look as they walked on; the familiarity of it all. She missed this; all of it. Stuck in a dream-like state of mind, she heard bits and pieces of the conversation Ed and Al were having.

"… not in the mood to report to Mr. Sarcastic. Why can't you just bring her in to talk to him, Al?" Ed complained.

"Who's Mr. Sarcastic? He sounds like a bundle of joy," Raven joked care freely.

"He's kind of Ed's boss," Al explained. "His name is Colonel Mustang. Roy Mustang, or the Flame Alchemist. What's wrong, Raven?" Al asked, growing concerned at how pale she had become when Mustang's name was mentioned.

Sweat beaded on Raven's forehead. "M-mustang?" she stuttered.

Ed turned to her, his eyebrows furrowed. "What's with you?"

She shook her head furiously. Suddenly, an idea hit her. Looking into the distance over Ed's shoulder, she widened her eyes dramatically. "Oh my God! What is that?" she screamed, pointing in the distance.

"What?" Ed and Al said simultaneously, spinning around to look. When they saw nothing out of the ordinary, they went to stare at Raven with dumbfounded expressions. Instead, they saw her retreating figure as she sprinted back the way they had come. They stared after her for a moment, then shot off after her.

"Hey! Hold it!" Ed exclaimed.

Raven didn't slow down. She kept pushing forward, putting as much distance between herself and the Elrics as she possibly could. Unfortunately for her though, Ed had an advantage: his automail leg. And he was quickly catching up.

"Dammit! Would ya stop already!" Ed shouted again.

She refused to listen.

Understanding that Raven had no intention of cooperating, Ed tackled her to the ground when he got close enough. He laid there for a moment, trying to catch his breath with Raven still on the ground underneath him, showing no signs of exhaustion. Once his breathing returned to normal and he realized how the whole situation would look to bystanders, he flipped Raven onto her back. Not trusting her, he grabbed hold of both her wrists to restrain her. Ed glared down at her with an annoyed expression.

"What the hell was that all about?" he fumed.

Raven lashed out, trying to get him off her and free her wrists, but he kept her held down. "There is no way in hell that you're taking me to him alive!" she cried.

Al finally caught up to them and slowed to a stop beside the two. "Who are you talking about? Colonel Mustang?"

"I'm not going! You can't make me!" Raven shouted.

Ed laughed hysterically. "You- you can't be serious! You're afraid of the Colonel?" He lapsed into another fit of laughter.

Raven stared at him with wide eyes. "He's gonna kill me!" she wailed.

"This is priceless!" Ed laughed, wishing he had a camera to take a picture of Raven's face. Her eyes were pleading, but her face was over-the-top worried. A perfect Kodak moment.

"Ed!" his brother exclaimed, knocking his fist on top of Ed's head. "Be nice! Raven? Why are you so afraid to see the Colonel?"

"Let me up and I'll tell you," she growled at Ed. He quickly helped her to her feet and let go of her wrists. "The last time we saw each other, I kinda transmuted the coffee grounds in his coffee into dirt and accidently set a small fire in his office," she admitted, scratching the back of her head.

Ed did a facepalm, now understanding her fears. He knew all too well that Mustang wouldn't have forgotten- even after two years. Worse yet, Mustang had had two years to determine who knows what kind of punishment. "You just had to piss off the Colonel, didn't you Guardel?" he moaned.

"It was an accident!" Raven repeated, flailing her arms around wildly.

"Is that… Miss Guardel?"

Raven jumped at the suddenness of hearing the booming voice directly behind her. She immediately recognized the tall and muscular man with bright blue eyes and blonde hair with a matching mustache. "Major Armstrong!" she shrieked, jumping a second time and moving to hide behind Al.

Armstrong scrutinized her closer, his eyes widening. "It _is_you!" He grabbed her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. "You've finally returned to us, Raven Guardel!"

"Can't- breathe!" Raven gasped. She was getting sick of all this contact with people, and to her, hugs were no different than being tackled.

"So sorry!" Armstrong amended, placing her back on her feet. "How are you? Where have you been?"

She half smiled. "I'm fine. It's a long and boring story," she said, stretching her sore muscles.

"Does Colonel Mustang know you're here?"

Raven answered "Yes" at the same time Ed replied "No." She shot him a glare.

"Perhaps we should inform him then," Armstrong said thoughtfully.

"Please. No," Raven moaned. Ed and Al grinned evilly at her. "No," she repeated more seriously, backing away from the three guys.

Armstrong advanced on her, picked her up as if she weighed nothing, and slung her over his shoulder. "Onward!" he declared, marching toward Central Command. Ed and Al fell into step behind them, Ed's grin never faltering for an instant.

Raven glared at Ed as darkly as she possibly could. "I hate you," she growled.

"I'm sorry," Ed chuckled, "I just can't take you seriously when you look like this."

Narrowing her eyes into thin slits, Raven said coldly, "You will die a slow and painful death when this is over. You are _so_going to hell for this."

Laughing, Ed replied lightly, "I'll meet ya there!"

A few minutes and incoherent mumblings later, Raven was standing in Roy Mustang's office. After literally being dragged through his office door, Raven had to stand and listen for another ten minutes to Mustang's nonstop speech about her 'reckless behavior'. She tuned in and out of his rambling, wondering how he could talk for so long and not even stop to take a breath. _Must be a gift_, she decided. When she realized that he had fallen silent, Raven sighed.

"You done yet?" she asked lazily.

Ed elbowed her, shooting her a warning glance that said not to push it. Raven was completely oblivious.

As Ed filled Mustang in on the details of Lior, Mustang nodded, listening intently and asking the occasional question. When he finished, Mustang folded his hands under his chin.

"Would you give me a moment with Raven?" Mustang asked calmly.

Ed, Al, and Armstrong quickly filed out, each of them shooting a hopeful glance at Raven. She nodded at them, smiling awkwardly. The door closed, leaving a fidgeting Raven alone with Mustang and his piercing black eyes. She tried to hide her nervousness as best she could.

"If it's about the coffee, I'm sorry. The fire was an accident! I didn't mean-"

"It's not about that," Mustang stated evenly. "How much do the Elrics know? How much have you told them?"

Raven cast her glance down, all her nervousness strangely gone all of a sudden. "Not much," she replied.

"Did you tell them about what you did?"

"No."

Mustang sighed, running a hand through his ink black hair. "It's only a matter of time. They'll find out one way or another."

"I know," Raven replied, rubbing her wrists. "I'm just not exactly looking forward to the guilt trip," she mumbled.

"Fine by me," Mustang shrugged, leaning back into his chair. "Now… about that fire…" there was a glint in his eye that Raven wasn't liking.

She gulped. "I'm sorry?" she tried.

Mustang shook his head. "I have something else in mind…" he grinned impishly.

_Oh great_, she thought worriedly.

_Someone, please kill me._


	6. Playing With Fire

**Disclaimer: Only six chapters in, and I'm already sick of saying this. Me no own. Me wish, but me don't. There. Happy?**

**Chipmunkgirl234: The key points of Raven's past have yet to be revealed, but they're coming soon; trust me! Luckily for Raven, Mustang's not _that _heartless. That's why he has so many fangirls! I'm so evil in dragging out the reveal on Raven's past, but I'm sure some of you readers already pieced a few things together...**

**Kira The Dead Ninja: Yes, you may bow down and worship my awesomeness *happy face*. But seriously, thanks so much for the review! You just made my day!**

**Fawndapple: I'm glad you like it! Hope you like this next chapter!**

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><p>"<em>This <em>is my punishment?"

Shortly after her oh-so-pleasant conversation with the Colonel, Raven and the Elrics had been stuffed into a conspicuous black car by Colonel Mustang with very little information on their destination. Fortunately for her, Mustang had allowed her to find herself a new jacket to cover up her arms- the new one was exactly the same as the first, except for the newly embroidered State Alchemist symbol stitched on the left shoulder. Judging by all the secrecy and the rush that the Colonel seemed to be in, Raven began to suspect that she was being kidnapped. But after a long and silent ride, their car stopped in front of a cozy-looking house and Raven's doubts faded away. Instead, they were replaced with puzzlement.

Ed gave the Colonel a questioning look. "Why did she have to come along?" he asked dryly, jerking a thumb at Raven as they all climbed out of the car.

"Thank you for talking about me like I'm not even here," she rolled her eyes.

Mustang ignored her banter. "I've assigned her to be your assistant of sorts while you gather your information on bioalchemy," he explained simply. "She is to help you in any way she can and learn alongside you."

Raven blinked. "Bioalchemy?" She'd never taken much interest in the subject, not even after she was outfitted with automail. She wondered why the Colonel would want her to study it, and more importantly, she wanted to know why the Elrics suddenly seemed so fascinated with the subject. Part of her already knew that it had something to do with the Philosopher's Stone- she was beginning to notice a pattern: everything the brothers did was in some way connected to the Stone- and she thought that perhaps learning a bit of bioalchemy could possibly prove useful in the future. But practically acting as the Elrics' servant was not something she was looking forward to.

Mustang strolled up the stone walkway up to the house and rang the doorbell, looking smug the whole time. Raven resisted the urge to kick his shin and wipe the taunting expression clean off his face.

"Man, this house is huge," Ed marveled at the vastness of the place. Raven had to admit, he was right. It was at least four times the size of a normal home, with three floors, a solid brick front, large bay windows, and the air around it seemed to give of an expensive feel. She wondered how the owner had ever gotten the money to build such an extravagant home.

"Whose place is this?" she asked, still drinking in the size of it all.

Ed blinked at her. "Didn't you hear a word the Colonel said?"

"Uh, no."

Ed sighed. "His name's Shou Tucker, the Sewing Life Alchemist. He transmuted a talking chimera two years ago, probably how he can afford a place like this," he added, as if it were an afterthought.

"A talking…chimera?" Raven tried with little success to wrap her brain about the concept. Chimeras were, again, not her favorite topic. It reminded her too much of human transmutation in the way that alchemists combined different species of animals together into one form. How one could possibly comprehend human speech was next to impossible as far as Raven was concerned, but then again, the word 'impossible' was beginning to loose meaning in hr life.

All of a sudden, a shadow passed over their heads. They looked up simultaneously to see a huge white dog hurtling over them and falling fast to where Ed was standing. He managed to get out a shriek of surprise before he was tackled to the ground.

Al hurried over to his brother worriedly. "Are you okay, Ed?"

He moaned and twitched from under the dog still lying on top of him.

"Oh come on, Ed! A few broken ribs and a shattered spine never hurt anyone," Raven happily teased while patting the blonde head that could barely be seen under the mass of snow white fur.

"Daddy!" Everyone's heads turned to see a young girl standing in the doorway with long brown hair in a braid that went down to her tiny hips and startling blue eyes. "There're people out here! Look!" she laughed.

A tall figure appeared behind her, laying a gentle hand on her back. "Nina! This is why I told you to keep the dog tied up," he said calmly. Now that he was standing in the sunlight, Raven could see that he had cropped sandy hair, a hint of stubble on his chin, and round glasses perched on his nose. She assumed that this was the Sewing Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker. _He seems nice enough_, she thought as they were led inside.

As they moved about from room to room, Raven noticed that the house's interior had potential to be just as amazing as its exterior if the dirt and grime that caked almost every surface was wiped away. They sat down and talked for a bit, which ended up with Ed revealing his rough past to Tucker. Mustang shot Raven an expectant look as Ed retold how he and Al transmuted their mother, but Raven ignored the Colonel and kept silent, staring blankly at the wall. When Tucker questioned her reasons for learning bioalchemy, she simply replied that it was her duty to assist the Elrics. He didn't press her for details and she didn't feel the need to elaborate either, so Raven just kept silent through most of it.

After that, they were led into Tucker's laboratory and poked around in there for a time. Raven was unnerved by the screeching and howling coming from the animals locked tightly away in their cages. Still, she said nothing. She was no longer sure if she wanted to mess around with bioalchemy. If she had to continuously listen to the crying animals, then she would be out the door in two seconds flat.

What saved her was the library. Shelf after shelf of books filled the room with the calming scent of leather bindings and sundried paper. The pages seemed to whisper their secrets to her in a language that was begging to be uttered. "Whoa," she breathed, eager to dive into the pool of unspoken words that was resting at her fingertips.

Tucker seemed to sense her zeal. "Feel free to look around," he said warmly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Raven squealed and began immersing herself in the books. Ed and Al were quick to follow.

"I'm going to head back to work now," Mustang stated. Raven only half-heard him, too absorbed in her reading to pay much attention to the Colonel. "I'll send somebody by to get you this evening."

He was met by silence.

Tucker chuckled. "They've got some ability to focus. I'm not sure they even know we're here anymore." If he said anything more, Raven didn't hear. She no longer cared. All she cared about was the knowledge she held tenderly in her hands. There was a world outside this room? _It can wait_, she thought, then submerged herself in her books.

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><p>Time passed- or did it?- and Raven was only vaguely aware of the little girl, Nina, that seemed to take a liking to Al. Ed had to constantly remind his brother that they were here to read, not play. This usually resulted in Ed being tackled by the massive dog, Alexander, which was finally enough to pick up Raven's interest. She would tease him mercilessly, and then go back to reading as if nothing had ever happened. It took all her concentration to ignore the blonde's rambling about 'vanquishing the mangy mutt', and even more willpower not to throw a book at the guy's head. Still, she somehow managed.<p>

When she wasn't busy doing research or going through the tedious work as Ed's servant- which he seemed to be rather enjoying- Raven figured that she could do Tucker a favor and tidy up the house for him. She could sympathize with the absence of a mother figure, so she hoped that with every dish she cleaned, every floor she scrubbed, she was making Nina and Tucker's lives easier. Ed must have had a similar idea because Raven could hear him shouting through the open window was Alexander chased him around the yard, Nina riding on the dog's back and squealing delightedly. Raven smiled.

_Be thou for the people.__  
><em>

"Ed's got that worked down to a science," she said to herself, then resumed her work.

* * *

><p>"Why can't we come here more often? I'd rather be researching in Mr. Tucker's library than out doing missions for the military," Raven complained, wishing she could stay and read longer. It turns out, she was actually taking a liking to bioalchemy- something she'd never counted on happening before.<p>

"Yeah! No kidding!" Al chuckled. "These past few days have been really great!"

"Easy for you to say! You didn't have a dog the size of a horse jumping on you or stomping on your spine!" Ed said jokingly.

Al laughed. "Well, time to start another day." He carefully pulled Tucker's front door open, letting the gloomy morning light dimly illuminate the hall. The sun had yet to rise that day as the three alchemists stood outside, waiting for permission to enter. "Hello, Mr. Tucker!" Al called. "Thanks for having us again today!"

Silence.

Raven's eyebrows furrowed. She stepped inside, followed closely behind by Ed and Al. "Mr. Tucker?" she hesitantly called out. She knew something was wrong- the house felt cold, sending shivers down her back that had nothing to do with the breeze.

Al tugged open the doors Raven remembered to be Tucker's laboratory. They saw him kneeling down on the floor next to a second, fuzzy form.

"There you are! So you are home!" Ed was quick to reassure, but there was something about the thing next to Tucker that Raven found unsettling.

Tucker slowly turned to them. "Yes," he said, sounding strange. "I did it. I finally did it." Raven could now make out what the thing was next to the Sewing Life Alchemist. She sucked in a small, quiet gasp. "A chimera that understands human speech," Tucker continued.

The creature looked vaguely like a large dog, with white fur that was in need of grooming, and a brown stripe going down the length of its body from head to tail. It was difficult to say in the light, but Raven swore its eyes were pleading for release from the pain. The whole time Raven stared at the beast, she couldn't help but feel a sharp stab of familiarity. Something about the chimera was off, her gut told her. Something gruesome.

"Here, let me show you." He bent his head toward the pitiful-looking chimera. "Listen to me. That person over there, that's Edward."

"That…person… Edward…" the chimera repeated in a stiff voice.

"Well done!" Tucker calmly exclaimed.

"That's amazing! It can actually talk!" Ed sounded incredulous, kneeling down by the creature.

"Now I don't have to worry about loosing my certification," Tucker said mostly to himself.

The chimera turned to Ed. "That person, Edward," it said again. "Big brother, Ed."

Raven's eyes widened. She saw Ed stop breathing as her own breath caught in her chest. Things suddenly became clear to both of them.

"Mr. Tucker?" Ed's voice came out strained. "When did you first get your State Certification?"

"Let's see," Tucker rubbed his chin. "It was two years ago."

"And when did your wife leave you?"

Tucker hesitated before answering. "That was two years ago too."

"Nina and Alexander?" Raven said in a tight voice. "Where are they?"

There was a moment of total silence before Tucker muttered, "Damn brats. Figuring it out so quickly."

Raven jumped out of the way as Ed threw himself against Tucker, pushing him up against the wall. "Brother!" Al shouted.

Ed ignored him. "Oh yeah, I figured it out," he spat venomously. "You did it again! Two years ago it was your wife!"

"This time, you used your own daughter and her dog to transmute a talking chimera," Raven finished in a seething tone.

Ed had a tortured and crazed look on his face that Raven was sure mirrored her own. She was beyond enraged. She would never understand why humans could never appreciate how well they had it when it came to family. She would've gladly traded anything just to have a happy, loving family, just to see what it felt like. Right now, she was ready to beat Tucker to death for what he had done.

"This is how we progress," Tucker replied. "Human experimentation is a necessary step. I would think a scientist would understand."

"Shut up!" Raven screamed. "You think it's perfectly fine to mess around with someone's life? Your own daughter? You had a family! Why the hell can't you be happy with that?"

Tucker turned to her as if just noticing her presence. "Someone's life, you say?" he said in a crazed tone. "You and the Elrics would know all about that!" Now he turned to Ed. "Look at you, Fullmetal Alchemist! Your leg, your arm, your brother! Those things are also the result of 'messing around with somebody's life', aren't they?"

"_SHUT UP_!" Ed screamed, throwing his metal fist across Tucker's face. "I am not like you!" He began to repeatedly punch the Sewing Life Alchemist in the face. "I'm not!" He brought his fist back.

"Brother!" Al shouted.

Raven grabbed a tight hold on Ed's wrist. "I know that he deserves it, but if you keep it up, he'll die," she said forcefully.

Ed seemed torn, unsure of what to do. "Edward… no," Nina-Alexander said in the same, stiff voice. Ed let Tucker slide to the floor, barely conscious, and Raven released her grip on his arm. "Daddy? Do you… hurt… Daddy?"

They knew that no matter what they tried, Nina couldn't be turned back. It was hardest for Al to have to say goodbye, and Raven swore that she could hear tears in Al's voice as the apologized repeatedly to the chimera. Ed seemed on the verge of tears as Tucker blabbered on about how he would still get to be a State Alchemist.

Raven kicked his face as hard as she could, letting her anger outweigh her grief. "I hope they kill you," she spat at the man. "I hope you die!" With that, she stormed out into the stingingly cold rain, letting it wash away her rage. She wanted nothing more than to leave that house and its cursed memories behind. She never once looked back.

As Ed stared after her, he saw out of the corner of his eye that Tucker was doing the same. Her kick had left him with a black and swollen eye and bloodied nose which was most likely broken.

Tucker must have felt Ed's gaze on him, because he turned to the Fullmetal Alchemist, and whispered in a hoarse voice, "The next time you see her, ask her how she lost her arms. Ask her about Devin and Jett. You'll see… I'm not the only one who's held another's life in my hands…" he trailed off before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Raven's words rang in Ed's ears. _"I hope you die!"_

It was about time Ed heard the truth from the Iron Haste Alchemist.

* * *

><p>Raven got her wish.<p>

She and the Elrics were leaving Colonel Mustang's office when they had run into First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. Raven had always admired Hawkeye for her honesty, but in this case, she would have preferred ignorance than the truth.

Hawkeye's usually warm brown eyes hardened into chips of onyx. "Mr. Tucker… he and his daughter were found murdered this morning," she told them in a solemn voice.

Ed stood there for a moment, immobilized in his distraught. Then, once he regained control over his frozen muscles, he did the only thing he could do. He ran.

"Ed!" Raven called after him.

"Brother!" Al shouted, beginning to chase him.

Raven shot Riza one last look, preparing to apologize, but the Lieutenant cut her off.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "Tell him it's not his fault. I know he'll blame himself for this."

Raven nodded, and then took off without another word. She knew that it wouldn't be easy catching up to Ed after his head start, but Raven was fast and resourceful. She knew she would eventually find him, but she wasn't entirely convinced that she wanted to. She had seen Ed in anguish only once, and she had found that once was enough. Seeing others in pain, whether it be mental or physical, well, she may as well have been the one in pain herself. Did she blame Hawkeye for her brutal honesty? No; the Elrics would have eventually discovered Tucker and Nina's violent ends, and she was glad that Riza had been the one to tell them rather than someone else. The only thing Raven had not entirely been counting on was Ed's reaction. More specifically, she had hoped Ed would handle it better than he actually did.

And now Raven was going to have to track him down. She groaned internally. Why did Ed have to be so troublesome?

Raven performed a quick transmutation on her automail and closed her eyes. It was a type of alchemy she had personally developed for tracking; she simply concentrated on the image of the person she needed to track, then her automail would bond with who she was looking for and lead her to where she needed to go. The only drawback was the transmutation would only work and allow her to successfully track a person if they had automail or some form of metal they carried with them. Thank God the people she was usually associating with were alchemists or military personnel. Guns and automail were a common recurring theme with these people.

Within five minutes, Raven had finally found the Elrics sitting on a marble statue in the stinging rain. She could just barely hear Ed's soft voice uttering words of heartbreak and sorrow. Neither had noticed her presence yet, too absorbed in their lost thoughts and their gloom.

She cast her gaze down, gnawing on her bottom lip until small beads of blood began to trickle down her mouth. Again, she was faced with a situation that required her to comfort others but had no idea how to do so. She opened her mouth, feebly attempting to grasp the words that hopefully would ease some of the guilt that the two brothers carried.

"Devin and Jett."

Raven blinked, lifting her gaze to see Ed staring intently at her with a dead look in his eyes. Her whole body had gone rigid and she swore that her heart was no longer beating.

Ed continued in the same monotony, with no indication of noticing her reaction. "Who are they? What happened to them?"

There was a long pause that seemed to stretch on for eternity. Then, Raven replied in a tone as lifeless as Ed's eyes, "Jett was my younger brother who was murdered. Devin… Devin was my best friend," her voice faltered at those last two words.

"'Was'?" Al finally spoke up.

"She's dead."

Ed seemed genuinely upset about this, his first actual show of emotion. "What happened to her?" he asked gently. "I want to know the truth, if you're up to it."

Raven took in a deep, shaky breath, and nodded. "I am." She drew nearer to the pair until she was standing ten feet away; somehow, being closer to them reassured her; put her at ease with herself. The corner of Ed's mouth twitched up, him best attempt at a smile. Though it wasn't much, it still gave Raven the courage she needed to force memories she had sealed away inside long ago, into words.

Taking another deep breath, she began in a much more stable voice, "You see-"

"Are you the Iron Haste and Fullmetal Alchemists?"

Raven nearly choked on her words, her breath caught in her throat and lodged there. She turned slowly, numbly around to gape at the man standing three feet behind her.

He was several feet taller than her, with broad shoulders and heavily muscled arms. His skin was a deep tan, almost brown, and his hair was as white as snow. A large x-shaped scar ran across his forehead and eyes. Raven didn't know what unsettled her most about him: how suddenly and silently he had appeared, how he seemed to know her and Ed's State-given alchemist names, or the fact that his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. If there was one thing that scared her more than her dreams, it was not being able to see a person's eyes. The eyes reflect what a person is thinking, so Raven was immediately unnerved and wary of the scarred man.

"Today is the day of your judgment," he said in a deep voice. Then, in one swift motion, flung his arm out as if to slap her across the face.

Instinctively, she squeezed her eyes shut and raised her arms defensively in front of her face. She didn't even think about fighting back, the gesture was too similar to how her father would beat her when she was a child. The man's hand wrapped around her wrist and she heard the sickening sound of twisting and crunching metal.

When Raven worked up the courage to peel her eyelids open, all she could do was stare at the spot her left arm should have been.

Raven's automail was lying shattered at her feet.


	7. Falling Apart

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA, blah, blah, blah, etcetera at nausium.**

**No reviews to reply to, since I'm posting back-to-back-to-back. Enjoy anyway!**

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><p>Raven was too numb, paralyzed by the shock of the scraps of metal on the ground, to register the pain. The nerves attached to her automail must have been sending signals of red-hot pain shooting throughout her body, but she felt none of it. Her mind went blank; all the muscles in her body locked up, leaving her unable to move and unable to save herself.<p>

The scarred man made a noise of annoyance, disappointed that his attack that had been meant to kill merely disassembled her arm. Unlike Raven, he didn't hesitate in the slightest to attack again.

Thankfully for her, Al was quicker on his feet. In one swift motion, he swung Raven over his shoulder, tugging on his brother's hood and dragging him along.

Ed seemed to snap out of his oppression in time to transmute a barrier between them and the scarred man. Raven, on the other hand, was still stuck in a half-asleep state of mind. She stared at the wall, wide-eyed, and finally managed to draw in a short breath, one she hadn't realized she was holding.

"Raven, are you alright?" Al asked worriedly.

Ed peered up at her from where he lay on the ground, his eyes quickly glancing her over until they landed on her left arm. His eyes widened to the size of golf balls, then darted back to the barrier he had made as if he could see the man through the stone. "What the hell is going on here?" He shouted.

His answer was an explosion as the center of the wall was suddenly blown to bits, sending huge chunks of stone pavement and dust everywhere. A dark figure loomed in front of them, and the scarred man's face materialized from the cloud of white. His expression was as hard as stone, his face fixed in a menacing scowl. He began to take slow, deliberate steps forward, and even though she couldn't see his eyes, Raven knew that they were filled with murderous intent.

Raven cast a quick, furtive glance down at Ed who was still sprawled out on the ground. His whole body was shaking, and his face was desperate as he scanned through his limited options. After a brief glance at Raven's disheveled appearance, he concluded that fighting was definitely out of the question.

"Let's go! Run for it!" he ordered, pushing himself off the ground and took off away from the man. Al sprinted after him, with Raven staring numbly behind as she bounced on his shoulder.

They raced down a set of stairs, but soon found their path blocked by the man, and screeched to a halt. "No you don't," the man growled, placing his hand on the staircase.

Red sparks shout out through his arm, and the stone began to crumble away. Ed began to fall, his arms flailing as he tried to grasp a hold of something, anything to catch him. Al caught his brother by the ankle, still somehow miraculously holding onto Raven. But it didn't last for long. The rest of the stairs gave way, and then they were all falling. Raven landed roughly in a heap next to Al, and she felt the breath leave her in a whoosh. Her head was swimming and her vision was clouded with black spots as she feebly gasped for a breath.

She was only vaguely aware of being tucked into Al's arms like a football, and a sensation of being airborne. When she cleared her head, she saw that they were now running headlong downhill on an empty street. Gingerly touching her only remaining hand to the back of her head, Raven found a tender spot. As she pulled her hand back, she found it gleaming wetly with blood.

"Damn it! What the hell is this guy's problem?" Ed exclaimed, exasperated. "Making enemies isn't something that I…" he trailed off, his face turning annoyed. "Well… I never really avoided it. Raven," he turned his head toward her, "did you do something to piss this guy off?" he demanded.

Raven blinked rapidly, her gaze still locked on her bloodstained hand. "That man…" she murmured. "He… he destroyed my automail…" Her eyes hardened into emeralds. "Put me down, Al!" she screamed, struggling to free herself from his grasp. "I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch!"

Not breaking his stride, Al set her down gently, but kept a firm hold of her wrist. "We can't fight him. We have to get away," he urged, hauling her along with them.

Raven's eyes snapped to Ed, furious. "Are you seriously blaming me for this? You've gotta be kidding me! You're the one making enemies! How is this _my_fault?"

He raised his arms in defense. "Hey, hey! Calm down! Sure, I'm not the most favorable person, but really," Ed glanced quickly back at the man who was right on their tail. "There shouldn't be trying to kill me!"

Ed turned down a dark alley, his brother and Raven following his lead. Raven vowed never again to let Ed lead the way as the exit to the alleyway suddenly collapsed before them, leaving them trapped like rats. The only way out was blocked by the man with the scar.

Ed's teeth ground together. "Who are you? Why are you after us?" he demanded.

"As long as there are creators like you in this world, there must also be destroyers," the scarred man answered grimly.

Raven's eyes glinted dangerously. "This guy's asking for a fight." She transmuted a metal pipe into a wickedly sharp, serrated knife. "I'm not one to back out," she said, pointing the tip at the man's face. Ed followed her suit and transmuted himself a short sword, and Al slipped quietly into a fighting stance.

The man only smirked. "Gutsy of you."

Ed shot off toward the man like a bullet, his blade raised and ready. Raven and Al quickly darted after him. They all attacked one after the other in a matter of seconds, but none landed a single hit on him.

"Too slow," the man grinned, and then placed his palm, cackling with blue sparks on the side of Al's armor. Before anyone could do anything to stop it, almost all of Al's right side was blown to bits and he fell to the ground.

"Al!" Ed screamed in horror. Then, he turned to glare maliciously at the man. "You bastard!" he spat, swinging his blade in an arc. His attack was swiftly stopped, his arm caught by the scarred man.

The man made a move as if to destroy Ed's arm, but nothing happened. Ed was sent flying back out of the alley to where Raven was standing ready. Swearing at himself, Ed rose to his feet, pulling off his jacket to reveal his automail arm. With a grim expression, Ed transmuted his automail, stretching it out until it ended in a deadly point.

"Brother," Al called out to him. "Don't! Run away!"

Ed threw up his arms. "You idiot! I'm not going to leave you behind, Al!" He lunged again at the man.

"Ed! Don't!" Raven shouted, moving to stop him, but it was too late.

The scarred man gripped Ed's wrist tightly. "I'll just have to start by destroying this right arm of yours," the man said, then, in an instant, blue sparks and pieces of automail filled the air as Ed's arm was shattered into thousands of tiny shards.

"Brother!" Al shouted.

"Ed!" Raven shrieked.

He fell to the ground, as if in slow motion, surrounded by the pitiful remains of what once was his arm. "Now you will not be able to use your heretic's alchemy," the scarred man stated, advancing on Ed. He tried to push himself away, but fell on his side and didn't bother to move.

"I will give you a moment to pray to God," the man said in his gravely voice.

"Brother!" Al called out. "Run away! Take Raven and run!"

"Are you going to try to kill my brother?" Ed asked in a dead voice, as if he had already accepted his doomed fate.

"If he interferes, I will eliminate him," the man responded. "But you and the girl are the only ones receiving judgment today." He now stood with Ed lying at his feet.

Ed made him promise not to harm Al, despite his brother's pleas against it. Looking at Ed, Raven was strangely reminded of her own brother and how he offered to receive Raven's beating in her place. She was suddenly overcome with the desire to protect Ed, to see him live, to see him return his brother to the way he once was, to see Ed himself made purely of flesh and blood, rid of all mechanics.

The scarred man reached his hand out, preparing to finish off the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"No!" Raven yelled, sprinting over to them and hurtling herself in front of Ed. Her hand grasped tightly onto the man's wrist, squeezing hard enough to cut off his circulation. "I won't let you touch him!" she spat.

Up close, she could just barely see the man's eyes looking her over dryly. "Foolish girl," he muttered, then twisted his hand so that he now had hold over her wrist. Like the first time, she wasn't conscious of the pain as her automail right arm shattered. But this time, it was her rage that overpowered and drown out the swell of agony.

She glared viciously at the man, unwavering and unwilling to give him the satisfaction of seeing her turn her back on Ed. Raven was now hell-bent on protecting him and nothing was going to change her mind. "Kill me. Kill me and let them go."

Behind her, Ed gave a startled gasp. "Raven… no… don't do this," he urged, life suddenly returning to his eyes.

"He has someone he still needs to protect," Raven continued, ignoring Ed. "He still needs to take care of his younger brother. Please, kill me in his place and allow him to keep his promise," she bowed her head.

"Raven, no!" Al exclaimed. "You can't die! Not yet!"

"And why not?" she snapped. "I have nothing left. There's nothing left for me to loose," she said in a soft, tired voice. "I have no family and everyone I ever cared about is gone. I don't know what I'm doing here anymore." She pause, then smiled sadly. "I always knew that this would happen. I always knew that everything would crash and break. It's something I accepted long ago. If it means protecting you two… I will give my life to see it through."

"No…" Ed murmured.

"If it truly means that much to you, I will grant them life in exchange for yours," the scarred man agreed, placing his hand on top of her head.

"No… please!" Ed implored.

"Stop!" Al cried.

The sound of a gunshot rang through the air, freezing everyone in their place.

What happened next was a blur to Raven. She was vaguely aware of the sudden appearance of the military, including Mustang and Hawkeye. There was some sort of confrontation, then Major Armstrong came from nowhere and began fighting the man- they were referring to him as Scar, but Raven was sure he had an actual name. The next thing she was aware of, Riza Hawkeye was wrapping a gauze bandage around her head.

"Uh, thanks," Raven said quietly as she tried to keep her eyes open. Lightheaded from the blood loss, she began to wobble.

"Easy there," Hawkeye gently steadied her and helped her sit down. "You're going to have to take it easy for a while. You probably have a concussion."

"Sure," Raven murmured breathlessly, barely noticing the ground as it shook and shuddered, thinking it was just a symptom of her concussion. It was only when the ground caved in altogether around Scar that Raven realized what was happening. Just before he fell, Raven got a good look at his face, seeing a flash of murderous crimson eyes glaring maliciously back.

"He's-" Raven began, but the words choked in her throat as another thought suddenly occurred to her. "Alphonse!" she cried, ignoring the searing pain as she leapt up and stumbled over to Al's crumbling armor.

Ed was already there beside his brother, carefully scrutinizing every inch of what was left of his armor. "Al, answer me!" Ed pleaded to the silent Al, and Raven had just begun to think that his blood seal had been damaged when Ed was send flying backwards. Ed crashed directly into Raven and landed in a heavy heap on top of her.

"Ow," she moaned into the back of Ed's head, spitting out loose strands of blonde hair from her mouth as Ed rolled off her.

"You idiots!" Al practically screamed at them. "Why didn't you run when I told you to?"

"I wasn't just gonna leave you behind!" Ed shot back.

Raven swore that she could see the daggers Al was now glaring at his brother. "That's exactly why you're and idiot!" He sent his fist hurtling at Ed's face. This time, Raven was smart enough to duck out of the way before he landed solidly where she had been a few moments ago.

She struggled to maneuver herself into a sitting position, grateful that the world had finally stopped spinning. "Al, would you calm down? He was just trying to-" she began, but was cut off when Al grabbed a fistful of her jacket collar. "Hey!" she shrieked.

"Do we really mean that little to you?" Al fought to keep from shouting at her.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What?"

Al pulled her closer so that they were only inches away. "You said that everyone you cared about was gone and you had nothing left to loose. That's not true! You have us! We care about you, and you would just throw that all away for a meaningless death? You're as big an idiot as brother!"

Ed glowered half-heartedly at Al. "Easy with that 'idiot' stuff," he warned.

"I'll say what I want!" Al snapped. "Survival is the only option. Live on; learn more about alchemy; get our old bodies back. Why would either of you so willingly throw that all away?" At that moment, the arm that was holding a shell-shocked Raven up shattered into scrap metal, causing her to land awkwardly in Ed's only remaining arm to hold her steady. "Oh, that's just great! My arm fell off because you're a big, fat, idiot!" Al vented.

A tiny grin crept its way onto Ed's mouth as he stared at the ground as if it held all the answers. "We're really falling apart, aren't we?" he mused lightly at the knowledge.

"But we're still alive," Al chimed in, all the rage faded from his voice.

"Yeah," Ed smiled. "We sure are."

There was a long moment of silence where Raven sat there, cradled in Ed's arm, too frozen to move or think. Then, when she finally began to thaw her mind, she blinked once at Alphonse, and then turned her gaze to Ed. She stared at him with glazed-over moss green eyes. "Did he just call me fat?" she asked slowly, as if she were having difficulties processing the thought.

The two of them stared at her, then broke out in uncontrollable hysterics. Ed's laughter shook Raven slightly, just enough to fully wake her up. "What's so funny? And don't use the excuse 'We're not laughing at you, we're laughing with you,' because I'm not laughing," she said, although she was half-smiling.

"This is what families do," Ed managed in between chuckles. "We laugh at each other."

Raven blinked at him in surprise. "Family," she said, testing how it felt saying the word.

In that moment, Raven felt more alive than she had ever felt in years. She was no longer an orphan; she knew she had people who cared about her, that she finally… belonged.

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><p>Just as Raven had suspected, Scar was an Ishvalan survivor who was hell-bent on taking revenge against the military- more specifically, the State Alchemists- for their crimes of bloodshed. While Mustang gave the Elrics a brief summary of the war in Ishval, Raven considered figuring out her options, but she knew that in essence, she really only had one.<p>

"So what will you do now?" Mustang inquired once he had finished his explanation.

Raven glanced at Ed with bemused eyes. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to need new automail. I don't know how much longer I can take not having arms below the elbow. It kinda makes life slightly challenging, but that's just me talking," the corner of her mouth twitched up as she tried to lighten the room's gloomy atmosphere.

Ed nodded in agreement. "And I need to get my arm fixed so I can put Al back together," he jerked a thumb toward what was left of his brother and the jigsaw puzzle of pieces of his armor. Suddenly, Ed broke out in a wide grin. "Looks like we're going to have to pay a visit to our mechanic. Raven, I have a feeling you'll get along with her," he said smugly.

Raven gulped. "Should I be worried?" she asked Al nervously.

Al's armor shook with laughter. "Trust me, the only thing you have to be worried about is who gets to hit my brother in the head with a wrench," he happily replied.

While Ed grumbled incoherently and scowled at the floor, Raven grinned evilly. "I think I'm really gonna like this mechanic of yours." She asked eagerly, "When are we leaving? Can we go now? We're leaving now," she said without waiting for a reply.

With the help of Major Armstrong, she forced the Elrics out the door, with Ed being dragged out by his collar and Al packed up in a crate on Armstrong's shoulder. "See ya, Mustang!" Raven called over her shoulder. "Don't pick any fights when it's raining!"

Even though he knew she couldn't see it, Mustang rolled his eyes. "If you fall down and can't get up, don't come crying to me," he shot back.

Even after they were long gone, the Colonel swore he could still hear Raven's laughter echoing through the stark hallways. He grinned to himself.

By his side, Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "Why the look?"

Mustang laughed quietly to himself. "In all the time I've known her, I've never seen her genuinely smile or laugh until now. Until she met them."

"Those boys have that kind of power over people. Or maybe it just took their arrival to make her open her eyes and start living again," Riza answered wisely.

"Either way," Mustang shoved his hands in his pockets, "it's about time she woke up." He closed his eyes. "No kid should always look so defeated and alone like she did."


	8. The Truth About Loss

**Disclaimer: You know the drill. I don't own FMA; that privilage lies with Arakawa, the lucky bastard!**

**And now... the moment you all have been waiting for. Raven's past is about to be revealed!**

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><p>After several mind-numbing hours of riding a bumpy and rickety train, five history lessons of five generations of the Armstrong family, and an unexpected detour that led to the discovery of a new possible lead on the Philosopher's Stone- courtesy of ex-State Alchemist Tim Marcoh- the four finally arrived in Risembool. The Rockbell residence was a very homely-looking place, painted a warm, sunshine yellow with the shudders and door the color of spring green grass. A small wooden sign declaring the place to be 'Rockbell Automail' stood in front of the house, and a black and white dog outfitted with an automail leg waited patiently beside it, barking and wagging its tail happily.<p>

Upon hearing the dog's earnest yelps, the front door opened and out stepped a woman that gave the meaning to the phrase 'little old lady.' Her silver hair was pulled tightly back from her face in a long bun, and though her face looked tired, her eyes were bright and alive.

"Yo, Granny!" Ed greeted, which received him a bewildered expression from Raven. She had no idea if he addressed all of his superiors and elders that way or if it was something he reserved only for longtime friends. Either way, it was kind of refreshing not to have to refer to everyone as 'sir' or 'ma'am'.

"We're home!" Al called from his crate where he was being carried on Major Armstrong's shoulder.

When she saw the state the two were in, she sighed. "Oh dear. What have you done now?" she asked as if this were routine.

Ed chuckled once. "A lot has happened. Can you fix us up?"

As they walked up the stone-lined dirt path that led up to the house, the four stopped to meet 'Granny' who was gazing at the two new faces with mild curiosity.

"This is Major Alex Louis Armstrong," Ed introduced as the Major set Al down on the ground to shake the old woman's hand. Raven had to admit, it was pretty funny to see a guy as huge as him shaking hands with a woman that only barely came up to his waist.

"And this is Raven Guardel, a friend of ours," Ed continued, gesturing to Raven who was standing shyly beside him.

The woman smiled comfortingly at her. "Pinako Rockbell," she said, offering her hand.

Raven fidgeted nervously. "Uh, sorry," she laughed lightly and indicated that she had no hand _to_shake.

"Nah, don't worry about it," Pinako waved her hand dismissively. Glancing Raven over, she raised her eyebrows. "What's a pretty girl like you doing hanging around a shrimp like him?" she bluntly asked, indicating with her pipe at Ed.

A vein pulsed in his forehead. "I'm still taller than you, ya mini hag!" he spat.

Out of nowhere, a wrench hurtled right past Raven's head and crashed directly into Ed's skull, making him drop like a rock with a strangled cry of pain and surprise. Neither Pinako nor Al made any move to indicate that this was something out of the ordinary, so Raven assumed that this, too, was routine.

"Edward! I thought I told you to call first when you're heading back here for maintenance!" a girl's voice shouted.

Raven looked to see a girl her age standing on the second-story balcony with long blonde hair held away from her face with a green handkerchief and blue eyes as bright and clear as the ocean. She wore a beige full-body suit rolled own to her hips, a black tube top that left her midriff bare, and a pair of well-worn out work gloves. The girl's face was a mixture of annoyance and delight, a strange combination that she easily pulled off.

Snapping into an upright position, Ed screamed at her, "Winry! Are you trying to kill me?"

Winry only laughed, deciding to let her delight win over her annoyance. "Welcome back!" she giggled.

"Yeah," Ed muttered, still on the ground.

Raven broke out in a wide grin. "You guys were right," she smirked. "I'm definitely liking this mechanic of yours."

Ed rolled his eyes, hauling himself to his feet. "Remind me not to let you touch a wrench," he grumbled. "Or anything else you can hurl at me."

Raven put on her best innocent look. "It's not my fault that flying and potentially dangerous objects are drawn to your face," she said sweetly, skipping behind Pinako into the Rockbell house.

She hadn't been told much about the mechanic, Winry, so Raven didn't really know what to expect from the girl. All that Ed would tell her was that Winry took her work very seriously, which earned her the prestigious title of 'gearhead'. With that in mind, Raven knew Winry would probably fuss over the sad scraps of what little remained of Ed's automail, but she hadn't expected Winry to completely blow up. She even cried a little, but her depression was cured with a therapeutic wrench thrown at the blonde.

"I take it you're going to need a fix as well, am I right?" Pinako directed the question at Raven.

The girl smiled lightly. "If it's not too much trouble," she responded.

"Hmm," Pinako closely inspected the stunts of Raven's automail. "It'd be easier if we knew some measurements. Did your last engineer write them down for you?"

"That's not a problem. I have it all memorized," she stated.

Pinako raised an eyebrow. "You must have quite a memory,' she mused.

Raven blushed in modesty. "Well, I did help in the construction process. I designed my automail myself and helped forge it," she explained. "If it'll speed things up, I can help you with my upgrades."

This caught Winry's attention. "You made our own automail? That's so cool! How'd you do it? What kind of design did you follow? What types of metal did you use?" her eyes lit up as she bombarded Raven with questions.

"I have a better question," Ed raised his hand. "How do you expect to be any help if you don't have any arms from the elbows down?"

Winry rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "We have temporary replacements, you know. You're going to need some for your one leg," she pointed out.

While they outfitted Ed with a temporary leg, Raven inquired how long it would take to complete both their orders.

"Well, with both me and Winry working and if you feel like lending a hand, three days," Pinako puffed on her pipe. "You'll be paying extra in rush fees, though."

Raven shrugged. "I don't mind," she stated as Winry hooked up two replacements to her arms. "I can give you the measurements now, if you'd like…"

After a few hours working, Raven had completed the automail's design and was helping Pinako lay out the basic foundational structure of her arms. The sun was setting fast, letting pure golden light flood their workspace with warmth. Time seemed strangely warped in Risembool to Raven; not as long of days, but still plenty productive. She could easily see why the Rockbells lived in such a rural countryside; it was a nice change of scenery from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Raven wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, the air seeming suddenly stuffy. She shrugged off her jacket and draped it over the back of her chair. It was a relief to finally have hands again; eating was physically impossible and Ed made a point to embarrass her by shoving food in her mouth himself like a mother does to a baby. She made a mental note to kill him for that later.

Pinako abruptly broke the silence with, "You're a State Alchemist," she said neutrally, her eyes fixed on the pocket watch that was sticking halfway out of Raven's pant's pocket.

Raven dropped her gaze to the floor, setting the screwdriver she held in her hand down on the work table. "I am," she replied softly, her tone equally neutral.

"How old were you when you joined?"

"I was thirteen."

"And the military allowed it? What about your family?" Pinako's voice rose slightly.

Raven met Pinako's outraged eyes with her own steely green orbs. "My family died a long time ago. The only family I have left threw me out into the streets and told me to go die in a hole. I had two options: live and die on the streets, or become a State Alchemist, so yes, the military saw no need to oppose my decision," she stated firmly.

"Hmm," Pinako gazed thoughtfully at Raven, somewhat surprised by the intensity of determination in her eyes. She turned her gaze away from Raven to the window. "It's getting late. Why don't you call it a night and we'll pick things up in the morning."

"But I'm not tired," Raven began, but was cut off by Pinako as she waved her pipe at her.

"Everyone needs to take a break and learn to have fun sometimes," she smiled gently. "Go on," she shooed her out. "And tell the boys supper will be ready shortly," she added.

Raven nodded her head humbly. "Thank you," she murmured as she walked out the front door.

She didn't want to admit it, but Pinako had been right; it had been so long since Raven had gotten the chance to relax that when she was finally given the opportunity, she had no idea how to occupy her time. Unfortunately for her, Ed quickly solved that problem.

"Ed! Al!" she called, finding them hanging around an old and faded tool shed in the backyard. _Probably up to no good_, she thought to herself, knowing that the brothers- Ed in particular- had a knack for finding trouble.

Ed broke out in a mischievous grin. "What's up, Rae?"

She leaned against the shed's tarnished wooden door. "Granny Pinako wanted me to tell you guys supper's almost ready." She blinked. "What did you just call me?"

"Well, Raven's kind of a mouthful, so I nicknamed you Rae for short," Ed explained smugly.

"Edward is a mouthful. Alphonse is a mouthful. Raven is five letters. How is that a mouthful?"

"I don't know, it just is," he responded dryly.

"You know," Raven grinned impishly, "that might deserve a wrench in the face."

"Yeah, well…" Ed's eyes darted around until they landed on the watch that was half-hanging out of Raven's pocket. In one swift motion, he snatched it up and dangled it in front of her face. "Take that," he leered.

"Give. It. Back," Raven growled darkly. "Give it!" She tried to snatch it back, but despite having only one arm, Ed was surprisingly quicker.

"Oh yeah? Come and get it," he challenged.

Her eyes narrowed into thin slits. "Bad call," she hissed, pushing him into the shed. She half-heard Al mutter, "Here we go again," but quickly became absorbed in the silver pocketwatch held tauntingly in Ed's grip. Raven tackled Ed, knowing it was the last thing he'd expect, and began wrestling him on the floor.

"Quit being a jerk and give it back!" she snapped from on top of him, trying to reach around where he had hidden it behind his back.

"But this is way too much fun!" Ed chuckled, rolling out from underneath her and knocking her backwards into an oil drip pan. A _filled_oil drip pan.

Raven landed flat on her back in the black pool, quickly coating her arms, back, clothes, hair, and face in the stuff. She sat there for several long seconds, staring straight ahead like a deer in headlights, her mouth slightly open.

"Are- are you-" Ed cleared his throat, trying to stifle his barely contained laughter. "Are you okay?"

She blinked rapidly, holding back a massive outburst of rage. Glaring viciously at the blonde, she pulled herself out of the black mess. "I'm just dandy," she hissed between her teeth. As she stalked past him out the door, she snapped her watch back without any resistance. "Stupid pipsqueak," she muttered under her breath as she made her way up to the house.

Slamming the front door shut behind her with a loud bang, Raven stomped back to the workshop where she found Winry and Pinako hovering over some piece of machinery. They turned to her with wide eyes and presumptuous expressions.

"Take a bath in motor oil?" Pinako teased lightly.

"Something like that," Raven grumbled.

Winry sighed dramatically. "Edward?" Raven nodded. "I thought so. Here, you can take a shower in the bathroom," she led Raven to a small jack-and-jill style bathroom that adjoined Winry and Raven's rooms. "I'll see if I can dig up some clothes that'll fit you. Go ahead and get cleaned up," she said with a smile as she half-pushed Raven into the bathroom and closed the door tightly behind her.

After a half-hour long shower and thorough scrubbing, Raven no longer smelled like a car engine. She turned off the steaming hot water and wrapped herself in a towel. Raven coughed lightly into her hand, and when she looked closer at her palm, she saw flecks of blood staring back at her.

She frowned. "So it's happening again…" she murmured.

A rapping on the door startled her, making her jump a bit. The door opened a crack. "It's just me," Winry's voice chirped. "These should probably fit you," she said, sticking a handful of clothes through the gap.

"Thanks," Raven took them graciously and closed the door as she began changing.

"So, how long have you known Ed and Al?" Winry inquired from the other side of the door.

"Not that long," Raven responded. "Just a few weeks."

"Keeping them in line?" Raven swore she could hear the smile in Winry's voice.

"Al, I don't have to worry about. I can't say the same about his brother," she rolled her eyes.

Winry's laugh chimed like bells. "That sounds just like him," she chuckled.

Raven stepped out of the fogged-up room to find Winry sitting cross-legged on her bed. Winry glanced Raven over once, gave her a thumbs-up, and then led her back out to the kitchen where everyone was seated around the dining table dividing up the food.

Ed's eyebrows shot up as he took in Raven's appearance. She was wearing a long, dark grey tank top underneath a white and sky blue striped sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and a black ruffled skirt hemmed at her mid-thigh area. There was a cobalt blue sash tied loosely around her waist and a matching blue ribbon in her hair- courtesy of Winry. "Whoa," Ed breathed.

"What?" Raven blushed, rubbing her hand at the back of her neck. "What are you staring at?"

"You look…" Al began, grasping for the right words, but coming up empty-handed.

"Like a girl," Ed finished for him, earning himself a glare from five pairs of eyes.

"Such beauty!" Armstrong sniffed.

"Erm, thank you?" Raven fidgeted nervously.

Winry broke the silence by clearing her throat loudly. "Well, I gotta get back to work. I've got a few long nights ahead of me." And with that, she left a very awkward Raven alone with four people and their watchful eyes.

Dinner was a mostly-silent event, and, not in the mood for idle chit-chat, Raven excused herself to go to bed early. When she was safely inside her room, she locked herself in her bathroom and got ready for bed, pulling the silky ribbon out of her hair and rolling the sleeves of the sweatshirt down until they reached past her fingertips. She had been surprised that the clothes fit her as well as they did, and she was more than grateful that Winry hadn't pointed out how short Raven was in comparison to herself. As Raven stepped out into her room, she wondered when these clothes had last fit Winry before deciding that she didn't want to hear the answer.

She walked over to the nightstand to where her old- and now crusty- clothes lay in a neatly folded stack. She made a mental note to wash them in the morning.

Mechanically, she reached for her State Alchemist pocket watch in her pants pocket, but her fingers closed in around empty air. She frantically tore her room apart looking for it, but her search was futile. Suddenly, an idea hit her as to where her watch was hiding. "I am _so_going to kill him," she growled through clenched teeth.

Sneaking quietly out of her room, she silently padded down the hallway to the room she knew Ed and Al were sharing. Pressing her ear against the door, she could make out their hushed conversation.

"Go put it back where you found it," Al urged. "Before she finds out you took it."

"Not until I find out why she was so anxious when I took it the first time," Ed remarked, and Raven could hear a muffled cackling noise, like that of an alchemic reaction. "Bingo."

Silence.

"What is it?" Al asked, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"It's a locket," Ed answered softly, followed by a barely audible click.

"What's in it?"

"A picture. Some little kid. It might be Rae's younger brother. And something else... something inscribed into the locket..." Ed trailed off.

"What does it say?" Al asked curiously.

"A sister, a best friend. I will always love you. J," a voice that was definitely not Ed's replied.

The boys held their breath and the next thing they knew, their door was thrown against the wall and a stony-faced Raven stood in the doorway glaring daggers at them. Her eyes landed on the silver pocket watch lying discarded by Ed's foot, the white gold, tear-shaped locket encrusted with fake emeralds dangling, open, in his hand, the picture of a six-year-old boy who was all milk chocolate brown eyes and smiles. Finally, her gaze landed on a suddenly guilty-looking Edward.

"Are you happy now, Elric?" she said, eerily calm, though her eyes betrayed her true emotion.

His amber eyes regarded her carefully, but he said nothing.

"Raven... please don't be upset," Al said evenly.

"It's a bit late for that, Alphonse," she replied shortly, turning on her heel and stalking back to her room. She saw no need to retrieve her watch; they had already seen what she had sorely hoped to keep hidden.

"Wait!" she heard Ed scramble to his feet and trot after her. "Hold on a second!"

Ignoring him, she went to slam the door shut, but found an automail foot stuck in the doorjamb. "Just let me explain," Ed said stubbornly as he tried to force the door open.

Raven glared at him as if he were a cockroach that had crawled out of the sink drain. "There's nothing to explain. Leave me alone and let me wallow in my masochism."

"You know, you're not the only one who's felt loss," Ed said, his eyes soft.

Raven snorted. "You want to talk about loss? You think you know what it's like to feel real loss? You know _nothing_." She shook her head a little, laughing humorlessly. "The last words I said to my parents before they were murdered were 'I hate you.' I lost my younger brother twice. My best friend died because of me. I've had so much taken away; My family. My home. My arms. My identity. My own soul! What about you?" she leveled her gaze with his. "_What about you_?"

He stared at her with an incredulous expression, his mouth forming words, but no sound came out. Raven took advantage of his moment of uncertainty to kick his foot out of the door and slam it in his face. When he had finally recovered his composure, he tried opening the door, but found it tightly locked. "Open the door, Raven," he demanded through the wood.

The door shuddered violently, so he assumed that she had thrown something at it. "Go away! Just leave me alone!" she snapped.

"Not until you tell me what's going on," Ed replied stubbornly.

"I said go away!" she shouted as she threw herself onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow.

"I can't do that, and you know it. I don't want to hurt you, but you need to tell me what you did," Ed's voice was softer this time, kindness replacing his initial anger.

Raven fell silent, not in the mood to bother with it anymore. She closed her eyes, willing herself to escape into her dreams. She half-heard Ed's muffled sigh as he slid down the wall and sat down on the floor outside her door. _Why can't he just let it go? Why can't he just let me be miserable?_she thought somberly as her eyes drifted closed and pulled her into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Raven's lids peeled open slowly, warily, as she fought a surge of panic. All traces of the familiar, cozy, and comforting bedroom were gone. The scene that replaced it was hideously gruesome.<p>

Ruined remains of bone white marble columns laid in pitiful heaps all around her, chunks of buildings littered carelessly everywhere. There was no sky, only an ominous blackness above and around her. She could see nothing in the distance, only more of the same oppressive darkness. It was almost as if there was no ground, only blood, which Raven stood ankle-deep in. Her clothes, hair, face, and arms were stained with crimson.

She took in a ragged breath, trying to convince herself that none of it was real, trying to calm the erratic beating of her heart.

"Raven," a childlike voice called out. Her sweet voice drifted lazily to Raven's ears. A shudder went down her spine that rocked Raven right down to her core.

It was a voice that she knew all too well.

"Raven," her voice called again.

Raven's legs move against her will, and she found herself being pulled along by the sound of the innocent girl's voice. Her feet felt like lead, as if she were walking though mud, which meant it would take her longer to reach the child.

It also meant having to hear her calling out Raven's name even more.

Each time the girl said her name in that clear, bell-like tone, it was like a stab in the heart to Raven. She knew exactly who she would find at the other end of the rope that was tied around her heart, and she wanted so badly to turn and run the other way. But she couldn't and didn't. All she could do was resist the urge to break down and cry as a tiny figure loomed out of the shadowy depths of the unknown.

Her back was to Raven, her long and straight chestnut hair billowing around her small form like a shroud. "Raven?" she said expectantly, her head picking up like a dog's.

Raven's feet carried her around so that they stood face-to-face, only two feet away from each other. The young girl's familiar and somehow warm slate grey eyes gazed at Raven in earnest. Everything about her was familiar, from her smooth and porcelain skin to her sweeping side bangs to the open and honest expression that always seemed to be permanently glued to her face.

"Devin," she barely breathed her best friend's name.

Devin's face instantly lit up upon hearing the voice of her closest childhood friend, which only pained Raven even more. She cast her eyes down, afraid of meeting those brilliant grey chips.

"This is all my fault," Raven said pitifully. "I did this to you. It's my fault that you're dead." A tear trickled down her face.

"Yes. It is your fault."

Raven was suddenly struck by how cold her friend's voice was, all its usual beauty and sincerity replaced with a pitiless and severe tone.

"This," Devin continued in the same grim monotony, gesturing to the scene around them, the pool of red blood at their feet. "This is all the tears that were cried for me. Most are yours." She made a face that was a cross between calculating and malicious. "I wonder how your parents would feel to know that you never spent a single tear over their deaths."

Burying her face in her hands, Raven mumbled, "I never meant for any of it to happen. I just wanted Jett back… but I lost him and you anyway. You died because of me and it was all for nothing," her voice came out tight as she desperately fought against the tears that threatened to overwhelm her.

"You're right. And now you're left with nothing. You don't cry because you're nothing but a hollow shell on the inside. Empty and alone," the dead girl chirped in a sing-song voice.

Tears silently slid unwillingly down Raven's cheek. She knew that Devin was right, and strangely enough, it felt better to hear those words coming from Devin's lips. True, it was a cruel and harsh thing to say, but Raven could never forgive herself for what she'd done and she didn't expect Devin to either. This was the punishment for her sins, but words alone would never be enough.

Devin cocked her head to the side, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. She touched a gentle hand to Raven's tear-stained cheek and pulled it back to show the weeping girl. Raven blinked the tears away and studied her friend's open palm.

Blood gleamed wetly on Devin's fingertips.

Astonished, Raven wiped her own hand at her eyes. It came back with more tears of blood. She sucked in a ravaged gasp and blinked fiercely. Her breath caught in her chest when she realized that her hand had felt soft against the skin of her cheek.

Her hand was made of flesh and blood and bone.

No metal.

Taking a second look at herself and her friend, Raven found that they both looked exactly as they did before; eight years old, believing they were invincible and capable of anything, and above all, naïve. Then, it all began to dissolve before her eyes.

It was as if Raven's hands were being eaten away by acid- and just as painful. She bit back a scream that was clawing its way up her throat, chewing her bottom lip until it bled. She'd felt the exact same pain before, but that didn't make it any easier to experience the agony a second time. Though Raven knew what would happen next, she was still unprepared for the onslaught of torture that was raging inside her.

This time, she couldn't hold back the shriek that ripped out from behind her clenched teeth. Raven squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shut out the torment of having her soul torn from her body again.

All the while, her best friend watched with a baleful grin plastered on her face. Unmoving, Devin barely reacted to witnessing her childhood friend as she suffered through her dolor.

Raven let out one more anguished cry before she was swallowed up by the terrifying eyes that never failed to haunt her.

"Raven!"

She bolted upright, smacking into Ed in the process. Burying her head in the hollow of his neck, Raven clutched him close, holding him as if he was a life preserver. Tears continued to flow from her moss green eyes and she tried to pull in slow and deep breaths to calm the furious fluttering of her heart.

Ed sat down on her bed next to her, holding her close to him. Resting his cheek on the top of her head, he tenderly stroked her hair, murmuring that she was safe, that everything would be alright.

Raven wasn't sure how long they stayed that way, locked in a comforting embrace as her sobs slowly died off until her eyes were dry and red. Taking in a shaky breath, she tried for a smile. "I'm fine," she said firmly.

"I don't buy it," Ed replied gently.

"You don't have to," Raven pulled away and dabbed at her eyes with her sleeves.

For several long moments, everything was silent as Ed gazed intensely at the disheveled girl. "I think I've figured it out. What you're trying so hard to hide."

Raven hung her head, letting her bangs shroud her face. "We're not that different, Edward. You lost your leg in an attempt to bring your mom back to life, and then lost your arm binding you brother's soul to a suit of armor."

"Human transmutation," Ed uttered softly. "The forbidden science."

She nodded numbly, mechanically. "I lost my arm from the elbow down trying to save my best friend from dying. She died because I wanted to do a human transmutation and bring my brother back to life. Trying to bring him back, I lost my other arm. The only difference in our stories is that you succeeded in saving your brother." As she said her final words, they were barely a whisper, "I didn't save anyone."


	9. Savior

**Disclaimer: Oh, the evil things I would do if I owned FMA... but luckily for all of us, Arakawa has that privilege, not me.**

**Fawndapple: Yeah, I was an updating beast and posted three new chapters in one day. Me is very happy you like it! ^^! Yes, Rae has had quite the traumatic past... but at least she's grateful for those stupid Elrics becoming her new family (Rae's words, not mine).**

**Chipmunkgirl234: I figured since the two of them are constantly arguing and fighting, I should give Rae and Ed a sort of bonding moment when she reveals her past. It's amazing how she can't really keep secrets for too long with Ed and Al.**

**Seize The Rain: The scary thing is, I got inspiration for her dream from one of my own. Yeah... it may be the freakiest nightmares I've ever had in my life O.o I'm a wimp too, I don't think I could handle half the crap that's happened to Raven. I have one final secret about her family that will be revealed later on, but I'll keep you on a cliffhanger until then... And yes, out of everything deep and meaningful Alphonse said, the only words Raven picked up on were "you're a big _fat _idiot". *Sigh*, this girl's attention span is as short as Ed...**

**KarmaHope: Oh trust me, I will continue. I'm not giving up on this story- I like the reviews I get far too much!**

**With all that said and done, enjoy chapter nine! Raven's past fully and finally revealed!**

* * *

><p><em>So far, so good<em>, Raven concluded when Ed didn't react to her words in any other way than to look at her with eyes filled with pity. True, Raven hated being pitied by others, and she normally was not one to wallow in self-pity, but for some reason, Ed's gaze did not bother her. On the contrary, it gave her strength to attempt to put the past few horrific years of her life into words.

"Tell me what happened," Ed said, gingerly placing his hand on top of her own. She swore that she could feel the heat from his touch through her automail, which only made her wish even more that her limbs were made of flesh and blood so she could truly feel it.

Raven took a deep breath. "Where to begin?" she half mused.

"At the beginning. You said that your family died when you were seven," Ed offered helpfully.

"Yes," Raven breathed, hugging her knees to her chest, but kept her left hand in Ed's. "Well, my relationship with my parents was… complex. They hated me, so naturally, I hated them. My father would beat me every night, usually twice a day with anything he could find that would leave a scar." She thought of the countless scars etched into her back that never fully healed- on the outside and the inside. "And then, my mother was a drunk. She'd come home and scream at me that I was tearing our family apart, that I had done this to her. After that, she'd lock me in my room without food or anything for a day or two.

"I found comfort in alchemy; it took my mind off of things and made me feel at ease. My younger brother, Jett, spent every second he could with me, looked up to me. So, when he saw my first transmutation and how happy it had made me, he automatically wanted to learn it to. He was always trying to make me smile, and he'd do anything to make me happy. And, for a long time, I was happy. But, of course, it didn't last. Nothing lasts, especially happiness."

Ed frowned, wanting to argue, but found that he couldn't. In a sense, he found what she had said to be true, that nothing lasts. But despite everything he had seen in the short fifteen years of his life, he still somehow managed to see the silver lining of happiness. "Yes it can," he argued. "And it does."

She shook her head. "The law of equivalent exchange says that nothing can be gained without giving something in return. Well, I've given up just about every single thing I have, and I'm still empty-handed. I just don't have the ability to believe anymore that I can surrender anything more and finally get something in return."

It was silent for a moment, but then Ed asked, "So what happened after that?"

Raven closed her eyes. "I had run away from home for a while, but I ended up going back. I couldn't stand the fact that I had just left my younger brother alone with my parents. I mean, sure, they loved him in a way, but I still doubted that they weren't above beating him in my stead. So, I went back home… and I remember there was blood. A lot of it. And… my parents… and my brother… they were gone. Murdered."

She took another deep breath. "The next thing I knew, I was at their funerals." She could picture it: a small cluster of people, all dressed in black, crowded around two cold headstones.

_Seven-year-old Raven stood somberly in front, holding back the tears with everything she had as a tiny wooden coffin was laid into the earth. It was hard to believe that someone so small and so full of life would be spending his days among the dead as one of them. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and ran, tears streaking down her face. No one came after her._

_As she dashed away, she distantly hear murmurs of "The poor girl," and "Just leave her be." It didn't matter to her what they said; they would never understand._

_When her feet could no longer carry her, she fell to the ground beside a tree and curled up in a ball at its trunk. She kicked off her shoes that pinched her feet painfully and drew her knees up to her chest. Her sleeveless black cotton dress felt too tight, and she felt like she could no longer breathe. She sucked in a ragged breath, but it did nothing to make her feel any better._

_"Please don't be sad."_

_Slowly, she turned her head to gaze at the owner of the familiar, kind voice on her left. Sitting beside her with a solemn expression was Jett, dressed in all black, just as she was. Just like Death._

_"Why did you have to go?" Raven whimpered, tears stinging her eyes._

_Her brother stared down at his feet, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Raven. But please, don't cry. It hurts to see you so sad like this."_

_She sniffled. "I miss you so much," her voice cracked. "I want you back."_

_He shook his head. "I miss you too, but I can't go back. Not now. Not anymore."_

_Raven turned to stare numbly at her knees. "What do I do now that you're gone?"_

_Jett smiled a little. "Keep learning alchemy." She turned back at him, surprised. "I know how much it makes you happy. Don't stop just because you've hit a roadblock. Keep pushing forward and never stop." His image began to blur._

_"Wait! Please don't go!" Raven reached out to grab hold of his arm, but her hands closed in around empty air._

_"Alchemy hasn't given up on you, so don't give up on alchemy," Jett smiled, just like his old self. "Do that for me. I'll see you later. I love you," his hand reached out to touch the white gold locket hanging around his sister's neck. "Emeralds. Just like your eyes. Don't let their shine die."_

_And with that, he was gone._

_All that was left was a lost girl. Though she was only seven years old, as she stared down at her palm with fire in her eyes, she held the same sadness and frustration and desperation and hope of someone who had lived to see one hundred years. With nothing left to loose and nothing left to prove, she was determined to become her own savior- until the day everything would crash and break around her._

Raven shook her head, allowing the memory to drift from her thoughts as she returned to reality. "After the burials, talked to my aunt a little, trying to convince her to let me stay with her and learn alchemy. She told me that it was something I would have to learn on my own if I wanted to feel a purpose in life again. If only she had just taken me in," Raven shook her head mirthfully. "It would have saved a lot of people a lot of pain.

"I did what she said and learned alchemy on my own terms. As I did so, I found that my best friend, Devin Frea, was also learning alchemy. We'd been friends for as long as I could remember, but when my family… you know… I closed myself off from everyone, including her. When we began working on our alchemy together, it was like we'd never stopped being friends.

"I'd always known that she had a crush on my brother, and I did the worst thing a person could possibly do: I used her.

"Neither of us was ever really able to move past the murder, never able to get closure or let go. So, we made a vow to learn the secrets of human transmutation, even though we knew perfectly well that it was a taboo. But we didn't care. I was blinded by my selfishness that I convinced Devin to perform the transmutation with me, even though she told me that she was beginning to have doubts. I eventually got her to agree to participate in the transmutation, and I will never forgive myself for doing it," Raven said somberly.

"When Devin and I were in the middle of the transmutation process, it backfired on us. I escaped with a missing left arm from the elbow down, but Devin wasn't so lucky. She ended up loosing her life. And… my brother…" her voice began to crack. "He wasn't… he wasn't human anymore. The thing in his place was bleeding to death on the floor, and no matter how badly I wished I couldn't undo what I had done. I was about to loose Devin's soul, and I was in so much pain that all I could do was lay there in a puddle of blood- mine and my dying brother's. I'd failed in trying to bring my brother back from the dead, but I had to try with Devin. Somehow, I managed to draw a circle, and I… gave up my other arm from the elbow down."

Raven paused, allowing the information to sink into Ed's mind. So far, he hadn't interrupted or commented on anything- whether it was for her benefit or he was just too stunned, she couldn't tell, but she was grateful all the same. "When I woke up after passing out from the pain, I was in the hospital. They said I was lucky to be alive; I'd lost a startling amount of blood and had needed several transfusions. I found out later what had happened to Devin.

"Everyone called it the most horrific and gruesome murder they had ever seen, that it had been a miracle I had managed to escape with my life. They all assumed that the same serial killers that had killed my family had returned to finish the job and Devin had mistakenly gotten mixed up in it all. If anyone had ever found out the truth, that I had killed her… well, you know what happens to murderers. So, I never told anyone about that night… until now," she lowered her gaze to the floor, unable to look Ed in the eyes.

For several excruciating moments, the world was completely silent. Raven wasn't even sure if either of them were breathing. But then, Ed held her chin in his hand and turned her head so that she was facing him and was forced to meet his amber eyes. Much to her surprise, they were filled with an intensity that she could practically feel boring into her.

"You can't honestly believe that you're responsible for her death," he whispered firmly. "You can't keep blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault."

"That's the thing though," she replied quietly, having a difficult time tearing her emerald green orbs from his golden ones. "It _is_my fault. I convinced her to do the transmutation. I practically blackmailed her into it. How can I not blame myself for what happened?"

He shook his head. "I know what it's like to feel the responsibility of having done a human transmutation. I forced my brother's soul into a suit of armor, and it's my fault that he's stuck in that body," his mouth mashed into a hard line. "I know it's hard to put the guilt to rest, but you _have_to move on, Raven."

"Like you, Edward?" As soon as she said the words, she regretted them instantly.

His eyes hardened into steel. "I know that I really have no right to have said that, but it's especially true for you. If you think that I can't see how much pain you're in, if you think that I can't see how hard you try to hide it, then you have another thing coming." He stood up. "Because the truth is, I _do_care about you. Me and Alphonse, we're your family now. We saved you, and that makes us responsible for you," he held out his hand, his expression softer, kinder.

Raven blinked, staring at his open hand blankly, and then felt the corners of her mouth twitch upward. "I suppose this means I have to tell Al, don't I?"

He nodded. "Talking about your past and admitting your mistakes will ease the burden and make you feel better. Not that I would know, since I've never made a single mistake in my entire life," he joked. "Plus, you know, I'm the living incarnation of perfection."

Raven cracked a smile and actually laughed a little, slipping her hand into Ed's. Though a part of him knew it, Raven was still withholding certain information from Edward, and it was undoubtedly the most crucial detail of her story. _He doesn't need to know_, she decided. _Not now, anyway._

* * *

><p>Telling Alphonse took less time than Raven had expected, and she found it to be easier to let the words flow from her lips with much less effort than the first time. Maybe Ed was right, and talking actually did something to help ease the weight she carried on her heart. When she finished, she sat down on the floor across from Al's crate, watching him expectantly.<p>

"So, now you both know," she said in an attempt to break the silence.

"Yeah," Al murmured. Then, his head picked up like a dog's. "It looks like we're not the only ones, though."

Raven's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

There was a shuffling noise behind the Elrics' closed bedroom door, and Ed threw it open to reveal Winry's crouched form as she tried to sneak away and Pinako's tiny form half hidden in the shadows. "Winry! Granny!" Ed shouted accusingly.

"I'm sorry!" Winry straightened up. "It's just that I heard you guys whispering and wondered what was up," her face flushed tomato red with embarrassment.

Pinako was much less apologetic. "I just wanted to know what was going on after you two started shouting at each other," she gestured with her pipe at Ed and Raven.

Now, it was their turn to be red in the face. "I'm sorry we bothered you. I'll try not to yell anymore," Raven amended. She cocked her head to the side as she took a closer look at Winry, who was standing in the dark looking oddly ashamed. "Everything okay, Winry?" she inquired.

She looked up from the floor to stare at Raven with eyes that looked like a deer caught in headlights. "It just makes me sad is all. I never would have thought that you were hurt that deeply. You never let it show…" she trailed off, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

Raven blinked, surprised that Winry, of all people, was the most upset by all this. The two of them had only just met that morning, yet here they were, behaving as if they had been close friends for years. "I didn't want anyone to worry about me," she said lamely, taking a sudden interest in her feet.

Winry's eyes flashed in anger. "You didn't want us to _worry?_ You kept all _that_ inside and endured the pain in silence for _our_benefit? Stop thinking about what's best for the rest of us and start thinking of yourself for once!" she shouted, pulling out a wrench from seemingly nowhere and held it threateningly over her head as she stomped toward Raven's now cowering figure.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me! You're right! I should've told you earlier instead of keeping you all in the dark! I'm sorry, okay!" she pleaded.

Winry stopped three feet away from her and sighed, lowering her wrench. "Fine. Just don't do it again, alright?" she smiled warmly. Raven nodded in agreement. "Alright then," she chirped, and headed off back to work on the automail.

"Whew," Raven sighed, feeling wiped. "Well, this has been a long and… interesting night. I'm going to bed. For real, this time," she added, giving Ed a look.

He raised his eyebrows and looked at her like _Who, me?_

"Watch please," Raven held out her palm. "And my locket too."

He quickly fetched her things, placing them in her hand with a satisfied expression. "You're not still upset that I kinda stole your-"

His sentence was cut off as Raven kicked him solidly in his shin with a quarter of her strength. It wasn't enough to cause any permanent damage, but he would be left with an ugly bruise for at least a few weeks. Spinning on her heel, Raven turned and walked back to her room with a murmur of "G'night," over her shoulder. "Oh, and Ed," she paused and he momentarily stopped his steady stream of curses and rolling on the floor in pain to glare at her. "To answer your question, yes, I probably won't forgive you anytime soon, but I'll start with this for now." She grinned. "Think of it as your way of paying me back." With that, she slipped into her room and shut the door quietly behind her.

Her heavy feet carried her to her bed where she fell face-first into her pillow. In a matter of seconds, she was fast asleep, her watch and locket still tightly held in her fist.

That night, she dreamt of nothing.

* * *

><p>The next couple of days passed by rather uneventfully by Raven's standards. By morning of the day after she had revealed her past- most of it- to the Elrics and the Rockbells, she was only half-surprised to find Armstrong had been filled in on the details. Much to her horror, he actually cried a bit when describing the 'incredible and beautiful sacrifice' she had made in her attempt to save her best friend's life. She never thought that she would have this kind of affect on people, that they would genuinely care this deeply about her well-being. It made her feel like she was part of a family. A <em>real<em>family.

When their automail was finally completed and attached- Raven enjoyed mercilessly teasing Ed for being a wimp when their nerves had to connect to their automail- Ed pieced his brother back together and the three of them tested out their new duds. Raven had taken into consideration how the brothers seemed to have a knack for finding trouble, so she had designed her automail to be lightweight and easy to maneuver, and had constructed a metallic alloy that would also be tough enough to handle heavy combat without getting damaged. She would have told Winry more details about the type of metal she had used, but the problem was it could only be created through alchemy. So, Winry had to improvise. She increased the percentage of chrome to prevent rusting, but the tradeoff was that it wasn't as sturdy. With that in mind, Winry made Raven promise to keep a close eye on Edward to make sure he didn't go looking for trouble and destroy her creation. Raven could only promise to try.

They left early in the morning for Central to look for Dr. Marcoh's research notes that Armstrong figured would be hidden in the First Branch Library. Winry, who had pulled three all-nighters to make their automail, was still fast asleep when Pinako followed them out the front door.

"Thank you again, for everything," Raven said sincerely as they stood in front of the house.

"Sure," Pinako replied dryly, as if nothing had even happened the whole time.

Al paused from petting the Rockbell's dog and stood up. "Hey, where's Winry?" he asked.

"Resting," Pinako answered. "She stayed up three nights in a row. Want me to wake her?"

Ed turned on his heel, already heading away from the house. "Nah, that's okay," he waved his hand dismissively. "She'd just nag me. 'Make sure to do your maintenance' or whatever."

Raven rolled her eyes, falling into step behind him with Al and Armstrong at her side. "You could be a little more grateful, you know," she playfully scolded. The Rockbells had openly and warmly welcomed her like an old family friend, even though they knew nothing about her. Winry had even demanded that Raven keep the borrowed clothes and threw out Raven's old and beyond-help oil stained clothes.

"Yeah, yeah," his voice dragged.

Pinako's voice called out to them, "Hold on a second, boys." They all stopped and turned, even though she was only really addressing the brothers. "You should come back once in a while and have dinner with us," she said.

Al laughed a little, nodding. His brother chuckled and grinned. "You want us to come all this way into the mountains just for some dinner?" he smirked which Pinako returned with one of her own.

"Edward, Alphonse, Raven," a lazy voice called out to them from above. They looked up to see an exhausted-looking Winry with a serious case of bed head, dressed in pajamas. She waved at them weakly. "Come back soon, 'kay?" She looked ready to fall asleep any second, and Raven wondered how she could even manage to stay awake even for this long.

Raven grinned from ear to ear as she saw Ed try to hide his smile by turning his back to Winry and scratch the back of his head. "Yeah," he said lamely, waving then started walking again.

She and Alphonse shared a mischievous look, and followed him with Armstrong close behind.

The whole train ride back, she interrogated Ed about his relationship with Winry, which got her no true answers, but plenty of satisfaction in seeing him blush and squirm under the pressure of her questions. Her mood had drastically changed from the previous few days, and she was back to her old, teasing self. No longer seeing any point in hiding it, she began to wear the locket Jett had given her around her neck at all times, never once taking it off.

She was thoroughly enjoying herself as she continued to grill him as they made their way to the First Branch Library in Central Command… until they finally reached their destination.

The place had been burned to the ground.

"WHAAAAA!" she and Ed cried simultaneously.

"Dr. Marcoh's research!" Ed wailed. "It's all gone!"

"All those books! Those precious books! Reduced to ash!" Raven thought she would start crying. Entering the pitiful-looking building, she bent down and tried to pick up a volume that looked as if it wasn't completely hopeless. To her dismay, the black and charred paper turned to dust under her touch. She felt the three guys follow her inside and watch her with careful eyes, doing a swift once-over to see if anything had survived. "There's nothing left here but ashes. Everything's gone," she stated sadly and let the grey remains of what was once a book fall from her grip.

"Major Armstrong!"

Four heads turned in unison to see two members of the State Military hesitating outside the library's once-grand entrance, both of them standing in salute. "Oh," Armstrong noted. "Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh. To what do we owe this pleasure?"

They relaxed their stiff positions. One of them was a woman, with short black hair cut in a boyish style, impossibly dark blue eyes, and a mole just below her left eye. She had an air of sternness about her, which led Raven to believe that she took her job very seriously. "You have been ordered to report back to the command center, sir," she stated firmly.

"We'll be taking over supervision of Edward Elric, his brother, and Raven Guardel effective immediately," the man next to her added. He had shaggy, sandy-colored hair and forest green eyes. Unlike his female counterpart, this guy looked as if he would rather be doing something, anything, else, but was only there at the moment because he had to be.

"Hmm," Armstrong mumbled. "Very well," he decided. "They're yours."

Ed stared incredulously at the Major. "What is this? Just when I think I'm home free, they saddle me with more bodyguards? This is getting old!" he complained loudly.

Raven hung her head miserably. "Will you_ shut up_already? Your complaining is getting old," she groaned. Ed's response was to glare at her and stick his tongue out like a child. "Look, I don't like this any more than you do, but can you at least learn to suffer in silence? Seriously, you could learn a thing or two from me," she smirked darkly.

"Raven…" Al warned. "You can take example from Brother in expressing your true emotions."

"But I just did!" She smiled sheepishly. "I complained about Ed's complaining! That counts, right?"

Al shrugged, turning to his brother who was looking more impressed than annoyed all of a sudden. "It's a start," Ed said.

Raven beamed, fighting the urge to hug him in sheer happiness. In truth, she had no idea who she really was; all she had ever known and remembered was the girl who wore a cheerful mask to all those around her, so it would take some time in uncovering who exactly was behind the mask. So far, Raven was thinking that 'sarcastic' was definitely on the list.

Despite their arguments, the three of them were herded into a car along with Lieutenant Ross (the woman) and Sergeant Brosh (the man). She had no idea where they would go or what they would do now that they had hit a dead end with the library.

"All might not be lost," Ross said, breaking Raven out of her thoughts. "There's a woman who was well acquainted with the materials in the First Branch." Ross had successfully gained their attention. "Unfortunately, she isn't working there anymore."

"That sounds incredibly helpful," Ed huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Raven fidgeted in her seat uncomfortably; she was stuck between the door and Al, which was a tight squeeze, even for someone her size. She noticed Brosh was staring dead ahead with transfixed eyes at Alphonse, who was either doing a good job pretending not to notice or was totally oblivious. "Something wrong?" she asked carefully.

He broke his intense gaze from Al to blink at Raven, as if just noticing her presence. "Oh, it's nothing," he smiled awkwardly. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you wearing a suit of armor?" he questioned Al.

The three of them stiffened, snapping to attention. "It's a hobby," they answered nervously, sweating bullets.

The two military staff began whispering hurriedly behind their hands to each other, the only words Raven caught were 'freaky' and 'who are these guys?'.

"So, wha'd'ya say, Al?" Ed said loudly. "Lovely view, isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah. It's gorgeous!" Al nervously responded.

Raven resisted the urge to smack herself in the forehead. She had acting figured down to a science. For the remainder of the short trip, she managed to make pleasantly idle small talk with the Lieutenant and Sergeant while Ed and Al remained silent. She made a mental note to teach the two a few tips about acting and lying on the fly when they were finally alone.

They arrived at a shady-looking apartment complex, and were led to an apartment that was so filled with books, it was a wonder that someone could possibly live in such a crowded space. After finding the person they were looking for, Sheska, buried under a mountain of books, Ed began asking her questions about Tim Marcoh's published works, which were found to be destroyed in the fire. Luckily for them, Sheska had a photographic memory, and in a matter of five days, every word Tim Marcoh had written was now copied and lying in huge stacks of volumes before them. The only thing was what they had expected to be research notes on alchemy were actually several volumes of cooking recipes. One quick glance through a volume and Raven knew immediately it was coded. They were definitely alchemic notes, just written as a cookbook to hide the true contents from unwanted eyes. One look at Ed and she knew that he had figured just as much.

After paying Sheska her fee- which received him a lot of incredulous outbursts from Ross and Sheska- Ed loaded them up with the 'cookbooks' and had them taken to a smaller, more private library next to the one that had burned down. While Ed explained to Brosh how the cookbooks were actually encrypted alchemic research, Raven and Al immediately began pouring over page after page of recipes for endless hours. Raven wasn't sure, but she may have fallen asleep after six straight hours of staring at a page and comparing it to the notes she had taken herself of their decoded meaning. The next thing she was aware of, she was being shaken awake by a familiar-looking man that she immediately recognized.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes!" she exclaimed, jumping up in her seat as hugged him tightly.

"Raven Guardel! I thought you went missing and were declared dead! It's good to see you, sweetie!" he smiled.

She grinned widely at him when he pulled away. "You haven't changed a bit," she chided. His cropped black hair was the same as always, his hazel eyes peering brightly out from behind wire-rimmed glasses. Where everyone else seemed slightly annoyed by the man's presence, Raven couldn't have been happier to see him. He had always accepted her and treated her with a paternal kindness that she had never known before, and for that, she had grown attached to Hughes over time. He was like the father she never had. "How've you been?" Raven chirped happily.

"Well," he scratched the back of his head, "we've had a lot of cases to deal with lately, and we're still working on getting the Tucker-Chimera situation settled," Hughes answered, looking like he was about to say more before he caught a glimpse of Ed's face. The anguished look in his eyes had faded for the most part, but there was still a deep sadness and regret left in them that made Raven think he would never move past what had happened to Nina. "Sorry," Hughes amended. "I guess that brings up some unpleasant memories, huh? Anyway," he pulled up a chair and sat down at their table, "as if things weren't bad enough for us already, the First Branch had to burn down in the middle of all this."

Raven nodded. "It's been a problem for all of us."

"A big one," Hughes agreed. "All our case records were stored in the stacks at that location. Work without them hasn't been a picnic, let me tell ya."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ed and Al share a look as if they were thinking the same thing- she decided the two of them must have some sort of mental telepathy or something. Then, they cast their gaze over to the side where Sheska was standing, looking totally oblivious. _When did she get here?_Raven wondered, and then assumed that she had arrived while Raven was still asleep. Ed got a look in his eyes that made Raven think he was scheming something.

"Hey, Lieutenant Colonel," he leaned over the table, his voice suddenly business-like. "I think I've got exactly the person you guys are looking for…" he trailed off with a mischievous smirk.

Shortly after, Hughes literally dragged Sheska, his new employee, out the door to get to work already on her job. She wouldn't stop sputtering words of thanks and gratitude that Hughes had to take her by the back of her sweater and carry her out, laughing as he waved goodbye. The three alchemists decided to head back to work decoding the notes, but Raven's head was still a bit fuzzy from sleeping.

"I'm just gonna go splash some water on my face, wake myself up," she rose from her chair and headed out the door.

"Alright, just don't take too long," Ed waved at her absent-mindedly.

Raven rolled her eyes, and then paused in the doorway as Lieutenant Ross practically leaped in front of her. "Uh," Raven blinked, "can I help you?"

Lieutenant Ross stood as stiff as a board. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to accompany you. It's for your protection only," she added when Raven's mouth fell open.

Sighing impatiently, Raven muttered, "Fine. I can see why Ed hates these stupid bodyguards," she added under her breath, stomping toward the bathroom with the Lieutenant following close behind her.

When she finally got there, Raven opened the door a crack, checking to make sure it was empty, and then peeled the door open all the way. Ross made a move to follow her inside, but Raven held up a hand. "Do you mind?" she said as politely as she could manage. "A little privacy please."

Ross snapped to attention. "I will wait for you outside then, ma'am," she said formally.

Raven raised an eyebrow at the "ma'am" part, and then slipped inside and let the door fall closed behind her. She went to the sink farthest away from the door, plugged the drain, and let it fill with icy cold water. Just as she was about to dunk her hands in, a violent bought of coughing seized her, and she gripped the sink for support as she tried to suck in a breath.

A knocking came at the door. "Miss Guardel? Are you alright in there?" Ross's muffled voice asked, concerned.

In between fits of coughing, Raven managed, "Yes, I'm fine. Just… don't come in." Another round of coughing took her.

"Miss Guardel," Ross's voice became more urgent. "May I come in?"

Raven felt as if she was choking up her lung, but the last thing she wanted was for the Lieutenant to come inside. "No! It's fine! I'm fine!" she said stiffly, the coughing dying down and leaving her throat feeling raw.

Despite her warnings not to, Ross stormed into the room with a worried expression, then stopped dead in her tracks, staring. At Raven's feet was a small pool of blood, and a dribble of blood leaked out from her mouth. The white porcelain sink was covered in red stains, and the crystal clear water inside it was now a light pinkish color. Raven herself was panting, still trying to catch her breath, but did not show any other signs of pain. Her eyes, however, managed to look accusingly at the Lieutenant.

"I thought I asked you to wait outside," Raven croaked, wiping her mouth with a paper towel.

Ross blinked, more than a little freaked out. "What is this?" she murmured.

"_This_," Raven began wiping the sink down, clearing it of any signs of blood, "is no big deal. This never happened," she studiously scrubbed the floor, not daring to look into the Lieutenant's eyes.

"But-" Ross began, but was cut off as she met Raven's pleading eyes.

"Please," Raven whispered. "No one can know. Please, do this for me."

After a moment of silence, Ross nodded grimly. "Yes ma'am. As you wish." She then bent down and helped Raven wipe clean any evidence of the gruesome scene moments ago. Raven wasn't sure if the Lieutenant would keep her word or not, but all she could do for now was trust that Ross would not utter a word. When they were finished, they silently walked out the bathroom door and made their way back to the study room.

"To hell with it!" they heard someone shout loudly. Raven immediately recognized Ed's voice and shot off like a bullet.

She threw open the door of their private room. "What's going on?" she demanded. The room was an absolute mess; papers and books were littered across the floor, chairs lying on their sides, and at the heart of it all, the Elrics, who were sitting on the floor surrounded by the chaos. Ed had his back to her, sitting cross-legged with one hand on his knee and the other holding his head. Al looked the same, and even though he had no tangible body, Raven swore she could see a great confliction in his red eyes. "What happened?" Raven repeated, feeling Ross and Brosh follow her inside the room.

Al looked up at her from the ground. "We cracked it. We cracked the code and decrypted the notes," he said miserably.

Raven's eyebrows furrowed. Judging by his voice and the state of the room, what they must have found was anything but good.

"Really? You did?" Brosh said, enthused and oblivious to the brothers' obvious gloom. "But that's a good thing, isn't it?"

Ed slammed his metal fist into the floor with enough force that would have shattered the bones of a normal hand. "There's nothing good about this, damn it!" he shouted. "This is the devil's research," he said more softly, "it should have been destroyed. Dr. Marcoh was right; it's evil."

"What is it?" Raven urged, though she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know the answer now.

Ed turned his head, meeting her eyes. They were filled with horror mixed with anger and torture. "The main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone… is human life." Raven's eyes went wide, and she along with the Lieutenants Ross and Brosh gasped in unison. In any other situation, it may have been funny, but this was anything but. "In order to manufacture even a single stone, you have to make multiple human sacrifices," he paused. "Do us a favor," he addressed the military staff, "don't speak to anyone about this."

Brosh knelt down next to Ed, his face full of concern and doubt. "But, sir…"

"Please," Ed said urgently, greatly reminding Raven of what had happened to her with Ross not too long ago. "Just pretend you never heard any of it."

If only it could have been that simple…


	10. The One Who Got Away

**Disclaimer: How many times must I say this? It's seriously getting old. I. Don't. Own.**

**FullMetal: You weren't kidding! You actually reviewed every chapter! Wow! I'm impressed. I present you with a virtual cupcake. As for why Raven coughs up blood and the connection you made with Izumi, you will find out soon...**

**Chipmunkgirl234: Wow, a lot of people are curious with this question (well duh, why wouldn't someone question it when a character starts coughing up blood). That little bit will be explained in due time.**

**Fawndapple: Armstrong's character is so easy! All he has to do is sparkle and take his shirt off every five minutes- by the way, Edward Cullen freaking stole Armstrong's sparkles! I just had to say that XP. I love how you make up grammer rules as you go along like I does! Lolz**

**Here's the update you all ask for! Plus another one! I know, I know, feel free to bow down and worship as you please.**

* * *

><p>That night, they holed themselves up in their hotel rooms with discouraged and heavy hearts. None of them would eat or answer the door when the Lieutenant and Sergeant knocked, demanding entry. They were crushed to learn the steep price they would have to pay in order to get their original bodies back, and the three of them wanted to be left alone with their thoughts. Raven had her own room, but lying on her bed surrounded by the crushing silence was maddening and made her feel more alone than she had ever felt before. So, to ease the pain, she slipped into the Elrics' room so she wouldn't have to be lonely by herself. No one spoke, just stared off into space, at the ceiling, or nothing at all. The only noise came from the creaking of the ceiling fan as it squeaked after every revolution of the fan blades.<p>

"You guys should really get something to eat," Al murmured from where he sat behind the couch, not for the first time.

"No thanks," Ed's voice quietly replied from where he was stretched out on the couch. Raven murmured a soft agreement, not thinking that she could even hold in a single bite of food without throwing up.

It was silent for another few moments until Ed uttered, "Pretty awful, huh?"

Raven looked over at him from where she was curled up on the armrest of the couch opposite his. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her head rested on her arms that wrapped around her legs- as if making herself smaller would cause the pain to shrink along with her. "It makes you wonder if it'll be like this forever; grasping at the truth only to have it slip away. And even when we do grab hold of it, the truth is too dangerous to hold and we just get burned."

Ed smiled humorlessly, laying his arm over his eyes. "I'm starting to think this is God's special way of torturing people who've committed taboos," he said, his smile dying. After a while, he began, "You know Al, there's something that I've been wanting to tell you for a while… but I guess I've been too afraid to say it."

Al picked his head up in interest. "What?" he asked expectantly.

Raven smiled a little. She knew what Ed wanted to ask his brother, and part of her was surprised that he had worked up the guts to say it at all. He had told her back at the Rockbells' of his guilt over what he had done to his brother, and his desire to know if Al hated him for it. _He's taking his own advice and moving past his guilt and shame_, she thought with a hint of envy. He, at least, could know how the ones he loved felt while all she had were haunting dreams and memories.

Ed took a deep breath. "I-"

There was a series of thundering knocks on the door that made the frame shudder under the pressure. "Open up you three, I know you're in there!" the unmistakable booming voice of Major Armstrong demanded. "Open up! This is the Major!"

The three of them bolted upright in surprise. Al quivered nervously. "What do we do?" he worried.

"We ignore him, that's what," Ed huffed irritably.

Another round of eardrum-splitting knocks resounded from the feeble door. "...Ed..." Raven said worriedly. "How long do you think that door's gonna hold up?"

As if on cue, the door burst open, the handle completely broken off and held tightly in the Major's iron grip. Raven fell off her nest on the armrest and onto the cold, hard floor in pure shock, and she heard Ed and Al's yelps of surprise mirror her own. Armstrong towered in the doorway that was just barely large enough for him to fit through. "I know what it said, Edward Elric!" he declared dramatically. "How tragic!" he cried, tears pouring out from his eyes in a cascade of waterfalls. "To think, that the legend of the Philosopher's Stone is built on such a terrible secret!"

Cowering behind him, Raven noticed Ross and Brosh sweating anxiously a little as they gave some lame excuse for blabbing to the Major. Raven felt a pang of worry for Ross admitting their secret to the Major so easily; would she do the same thing about what she had seen earlier? Had she already? Thoughts and questions fired off in her head like a machine gun that she barely even noticed the conversation going on.

"The truth…" Ed snapped to attention, and Raven could nearly see the gears turning in his head.

She pulled herself up off the floor. "What is it?"

Ed met her gaze with his piercing golden orbs, blazing with a new spark of hope. "Do you remember what Doctor Marcoh said at the station?" Raven nodded, his words had been burned into her memory. Look closely. Maybe you'll find the truth hidden within the truth. "I didn't have a clue what he was talking about then, but now… It's the same as with alchemical notes; what you can see on the surface is only a portion of the truth."

Raven's eyes lit up, realizing what his words meant. "There's still more to find here. There has to be." She turned to the Major. "Do you have any maps of the operating laboratories here in Central?"

Wordlessly, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper and laid it flat on the coffee table. They all gathered around it, studying and analyzing its contents.

"Currently, there are four operational alchemy laboratories in Central that have connections to the government," Armstrong narrated. "We can narrow it down even further; Marcoh worked in the Third Laboratory, we should start with that one. It's the most suspect," he deduced, pointing out the lab on the map nestled between a few warehouses and vacant lots.

Raven's eyebrows furrowed. "It seems to me that it would be too obvious to be working on manufacturing something like this in the labs here in Central. Wouldn't it make more sense to work somewhere you know you wouldn't be disturbed?" she trailed off, her eyes sweeping over the map again until they fell on one building in particular. "Somewhere like this," she pointed it out. "The Fifth Laboratory. I remember when it was shut down because it was declared structurally unsound. It would be off limits to everyone in the area, so one would even think of going there; it would be perfectly safe to perform any kind of experiments imaginable, just as long as they have a supply for making the Stone…"

Ed nodded, seeing where her thoughts were leading. "This is definitely the place. There's a prison right next door," his finger tapped on the building adjacent to the lab.

Brosh leaned in closer to examine the map. "Okay, so…?"

"The main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone is live humans," Raven reminded, causing the man to shudder involuntarily. "There would be plenty of condemned criminals in the prison, and officially, they would be recorded as executed."

Ross put a hand to her mouth, a look of dismay written plainly across her face. "They're using the prisoners to make the Stone," she confirmed Raven's theory.

"Prisons from other jurisdictions could be used too," Al added. "I wonder if the government is involved," he said the last part worriedly.

The Lieutenant groaned. "Why do I have a feeling that we're getting involved in something really dangerous here?" she moaned.

Al threw up his arms in exasperation. "That's why we told to pretend like you never heard anything!"

Armstrong rolled up the map and made his way to the door, Ross and Brosh following warily behind him. "This has the potential of turning into a political nightmare before long," he said to the alchemists gravely. "I'll look into what we've talked about tonight. In the meantime," he addressed his subordinates, "officers, speak of this to no one." They willingly agreed. "And you, Elric brothers, behave yourselves!" He ordered. "Keep a close eye on that Miss Guardel; she was never one to listen to orders."

Raven blushed, embarrassed and worried that the Major had been reading her thoughts. As if to confirm it, he loomed threateningly over her and the two brothers, glaring down at them with a wicked gleam in his eye. "I know you three better than you give me credit for! You were thinking of sneaking into this building and taking a look around, weren't you? _Admit it!"_his nostrils flared and Raven swore she could see steam coming out of his ears.

"Of course not! We weren't! We promise!" she stammered, trying to look innocent despite her slight trembling.

Huffing something unintelligible, the Major stormed out of the room, demanding the Lieutenant and Sergeant keep watch at the door. As soon as she could no longer hear Armstrong's thundering footsteps, she tiptoed over to the window and unlatched it as softly as she could.

Al's eyes widened. "What are you doing?" he whispered urgently. "He told us to stay here!"

Raven smirked as she began tying the bed sheets together into a makeshift rope. Her moss green eyes twinkled mischievously. "I like to think of it more as a friendly suggestion…"

* * *

><p>In a matter of minutes, the three of them were racing through the deserted streets of Central to the fifth laboratory, the moon and stars their only guiding light. Luckily, Raven had memorized the route from where their hotel was to the lab, so they had no trouble finding it. However, getting inside would prove to be a bit problematic.<p>

Peering around the corner of the stone wall enclosing the lab, Raven saw a member of the military acting as a guard stationed at the front entrance. "A guard posted in an unused building?" she said dubiously.

"It's suspicious," Al agreed, drawing back from the corner and away from the bright lamppost that hung over the guard's head.

They stared at the twenty-foot concrete wall, as if their gazes alone would make a door appear out of thin air. At the top of the wall was a long coil of barbed wire that still looked razor sharp despite its age. "How do we get in?" Al wondered.

"We could make our own entrance," Ed offered.

Al shook his head. "They'd notice the light from the transmutic reaction," he countered.

Raven sighed. "Al, could you give me a boost?" she asked lazily.

Hesitantly, Al's hands formed a foothold for her. "I'm gonna need a launch in three… two… one." She leaped off from his hands and shot up at the top of the wall, twisting her body so that she began to flip through the air.

Ed's eyes widened, afraid that she would land in the barbwire. "You idiot! What are you doing?" he said as loudly as he dared. His jaw dropped when he finally saw what she was doing. Her feet were now straight up in the air and her hands shot out from underneath her as she dropped to land on the coil of wire. The next thing he knew, she was in a handstand on top of the fence, her automail arms not even receiving a scratch. She smirked at his dumbfounded expression, and then flipped backward over the other end of the wall.

"Show off," he muttered under his breath, pushing off of Al's hands just as she had, and landed on the top of the wall. He uncoiled the wire and used it as a makeshift rope of sorts to haul his brother up the wall and over the other side. They landed quietly beside Raven, who was sitting on the ground patiently for them with a wide grin plastered on her face.

"Let's go," she said, jumping to her feet and taking off toward the lab's entryway, the Elrics following closely behind her.

It was just her luck that the door was barred and chained with a large metal padlock on the rusted handles. "They're not taking any chances, are they?" Ed mused, putting a hand to his chin as he inspected the area around the doorway. His eyes lit up as they landed on an air vent just next to the door, up about ten feet from the ground. Once again using his brother as a boost, Ed pulled the net covering away and climbed into the vent. "Al, you and Raven wait here while I check things out," he said, inching his way farther into the tunnel.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "You'll be fine on your own?"

"Whether I'm fine on my own or not isn't the issue," Ed replied stiffly as he arranged himself in a way that he would climb easier. "Al's too big to get through here and I don't want you getting hurt again." The sounds of the scraping of fabric against metal grew fainter as Ed traveled deeper into the vent.

Al sunk down to the ground, looking utterly dejected. "It's not like I asked to get this big," he moaned pitifully.

Sinking down against the wall next to him Raven huffed, "He thinks he's such a big shot, doesn't he, going in there all by himself?" she pouted.

After a while of waiting in silence, Raven guessed that at least twenty minutes had gone by, and there was still no sign of Ed. She had begun pacing after the first five minutes, trying to decide whether or not to go in after him when she threw up her arms in vexation. "That's it! I'm going in after him!" she stated as she began climbing up Al's armor. He too had grown restless, but he seemed content to just stand still underneath the vent.

"But Brother said not to go in," Al reminded her.

Raven grit her teeth. "I don't care. What if he's hurt? We already know that someone's using this place, so what if there are people inside? Knowing his luck, he'll run into trouble and God knows I'll kill him if he goes and dies on us," she replied, squeezing herself into the air vent.

"Just promise me you'll be careful, alright?" Al wished after a short hesitation. He knew that there would be no convincing her of turning back once her mind was made up.

Raven smiled, even though she knew he couldn't see it. "Promise," she agreed wholeheartedly. "I'll be back soon." And with that, she disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.

She crawled along the straight path for what seemed like hours, making slow progress. The tunnel had been a tighter squeeze than she had anticipated, but she was grateful for her petite body. Despite what Ed complained otherwise, being small wasn't a total letdown. Ten minutes of ambling through the vent, she saw a dim light up ahead and assumed that it was where Ed had dropped down. Sure enough, she saw the grate had been kicked in and was lying down on the floor in a faintly lit hallway. Listening carefully, she heard no signs of life, and dropped down from the vent, landing silently on her feet.

She didn't know why, but Raven's stomach clenched tightly as soon as her feet had hit the floor, a cold chill passing down her spine and making her shiver. "Pull yourself together, Guardel," she snapped to herself, carefully picking her way down the sharply turning hallways as she searched for any sign of Ed.

Up ahead, she heard the quiet murmuring of voices coming from a large room, and she slowed her pace, not yet sure whether it was friend or foe. As she drew closer, their words became clear.

"So there are people like me on the outside too, are there?" one voice asked, sounding strangely like an echo. "That's surprising."

"Yeah, it makes me sick," Ed's unmistakable voice answered. "To think there's more than one idiot in the world who came up with the brilliant idea of bonding a disembodied soul into a suit of armor."

Raven blinked. What was going on? Was the man with Ed like Al? Another suit of armor with a soul bonded to it?

Just as she was about to make her presence known, the presumed suit of armor interrupted her. "Perhaps I should introduce myself again. Forty-eight was the number I was assigned when I was on death row. Back when I still had a living body, I was better known as Slicer. I was a mass murderer, you see. It was quite the enjoyable occupation, and more than rewarding.

"I remember one family in particular; it was quite a memorable experience. Dispatching the man and the woman were hardly entertaining; the woman was intoxicated beyond comprehension; however the man did put up a decent fight. Still, not even that compared to finishing off the family: their son. A small boy, cowering in the corner of his room, was clutching a picture of his beloved sister."

The more the man- or Raven supposed, the suit of armor- spoke, the more her blood boiled in her veins. A mass murderer reminiscing about his final kill was sickening, and hearing him pleasantly recall the young boy he murdered in cold blood reminded her too much of her own experience.

_Wait_, she paused, her mind reeling. A murdered family. The drunken mother. The child holding his sister's picture...

"He kept calling her name," the unknown man continued in the same wistful tone. "'Raven' he would cry, always 'Raven'. It was his last word, his final, dying breath until his life was snuffed out."

Raven swore her heartbeat froze along with her breathing. Her thought process came to a crashing halt, and her muscles locked up, leaving her as still as a marble statue. If she hadn't been frozen in a state of shock, she was sure her legs would have given out. She could feel the seams of the wound in her heart that had never fully healing being torn, leaving her to slowly bleed to death from the inside.

"You are my first prey since then, and I am not about to let you slip away," he said, and swung his sword in an arc at Ed's neck.

As if from nowhere, a flash of black and green flitted in front of Ed, shielding him from the attack. A sharp clang rang through the air as the steel of the sword bit into a gleaming, sliver arm made of metal. Ed palled. "Raven?" he breathed.

She did not move, did not turn, Ed wasn't even sure if she was breathing or not. She just stood there silently, her bangs hiding her eyes.

Slicer's eyes swept over her appraisingly as he took in the one he considered to be the one who had escaped him. "You are the one the child was referring to? You are Raven Guardel?"

For a moment, she was silent, then in one swift motion, she wrapped her fingers around his blade and twisted. The sickening sound of grinding metal pierced the still air and the sharp clang of broken metal as half of the blade was ripped away. "I'm glad you remember me," she said in a strangled voice. "Because I remember you," she managed, her eyes snapping to glare venomously at her brother's killer. "And now you're going to remember me as the one who permanently erased you from existence!" she spat, stabbing the broken shard into his helmet and hurling him backward with a solid kick to the chest.

Ed could only stare. He had tried to conjure up images of what Raven's inner emotions looked like, but he had never conceived of anything like this. Her eyes were frenzied, filled with bloodlust and as savage as a wild animal. He had always wondered what she would look like if she finally snapped, but what he was witnessing was impossibly worse than his imagined ideals. "What are you going to do?" he demanded, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear her answer.

She turned around slowly to face him, her eyes cold and beyond reach. "I'm going to kill him," she stated in a voice just as warm as her eyes. "Don't you dare try and stop me," she hissed as his eyes widened.

"Just think about what you're doing," Ed interjected, though he knew his attempts were wasted.

Not hearing or caring about his words, Raven faced her new opponent who had risen to his feet, and began to advance on him, her hands flying as she traced transmutation circles on the backs of her palms. The knuckles of her automail stretched out into thick and sharp spikes, and she clenched and unclenched her fists experimentally. Her forest green eyes bore into his red orbs as if she could incinerate him by glaring alone.

Wasting no time, she charged at him, her fists at the ready and murder written all over her face. Slicer ran at her as well, the halves of his sword in each hand and pointed directly at her vitals. He swung at her from both sides, which she easily blocked with her arms. She proceeded to sidestep away from the blades and jab at his helmet, trying to knock it off in order to get at the blood seal inked at the back of it. He jumped back from her, but she rushed at him again, hell bent on her will for vengeance.

They continued to go at it in a series of jabs and dodges until Raven grew tired of the tedium. Her leg snapped straight up in a front kick to once again detach his helmet. However, he caught her ankle in one hand, and the other moved to drive his severed blade through her stomach.

"Stop!" Ed shouted, darting between the two and thrusting his arm up to shield her. A strange clinking noise shot through his arm that made his eyes widen.

Raven's eyes narrowed. Using her other leg, she pushed herself away from Slicer, freeing herself from his grasp. "If Winry doesn't kill you, I will," she said tonelessly as Ed moved beside her.

He tried pivoting his arm, but it moved and twisted in its socket with a strange clunking noise. "Something's wrong with my arm," he said through his teeth.

"Then stay out of this fight," Raven stated simply, taking a step toward the suit of armor.

Ed immediately moved in front of her, blocking her path. "Killing this guy won't bring your brother back. Use your head! What you're doing in senseless revenge!" he yelled, vainly hoping to get through to her.

Her eyes narrowed into thin slits. "Out of my way, Elric. This doesn't concern you," she hissed, trying to push past him, but he stood his ground.

"What if it were Al? Could you bring yourself to kill him?" he demanded.

Raven shook her head, smiling humorlessly. "That's just it, Ed. What if it were Al? What if Al was murdered in cold blood? What if you gave up everything trying to bring him back to life? What if you finally met the one who took him from you? Don't try and tell me that you wouldn't do the same thing I'm doing. Don't tell me that you would just let your brother's murderer live after what he did!" she snapped.

"Killing him would make you a killer too. You'd be the same as him, and don't you try and tell me that you're nothing alike!" he countered. He turned his back to her, sinking into a fighting stance. "I'm not going to let you walk down that path just yet. Not while I'm alive."

The corner of her mouth twitched upward as she fought a smirk. "I've already sold my soul, so your bothering is pointless," she retorted, moving to stand beside him and ready herself as well. "Now, shall we?" she said in a courteously mocking tone. "Time for you to see my specialty when it comes to alchemy," she said and ran at her opponent again, this time with Ed at her side.

For such a frail and delicate-looking girl, her alchemic specialty was brutally violent. Every time she got close enough to the suit of armor, she transmuted the metal plates into worthless graphite chips. With his body becoming more and more easily breakable every time she got near him, Slicer had to shift tactics. Keeping a distance from her was crucial, as she was noticeably a close-range combat fighter, but with his sword cleaved in two, it was easier said than done. He had the upper hand in the fact that he could not be injured and Ed's fighting skills were minimized due to his malfunctioning arm, but Raven refused to back down.

She went on a full offensive attack, brutally punching and slashing at the suit of armor, not even once bothering to think about defense. All that was on her mind at the moment was killing her brother's murderer. That, Slicer deduced, would be her downfall.

It had only taken them a few minutes, but when Raven finally paused to evaluate the situation, she found that Ed's left arm was bleeding heavily, and he was panting in exhaustion, sitting on the ground a few feet away from her. There was a cut on his forehead just above his right eye, staining the right half of his face in blood. She herself was getting a little worn out, but escaped with only a few minor scrapes and bruises. _I need to end this fast; we're not going to be able to hold up for much longer._

Gritting her teeth, she hissed. "I'm getting tired of these games. Isn't it about time you died already?" she yelled, launching herself yet again at Slicer. He expected her attack, but at the last moment, she threw herself up in the air and kicked her leg out. It connected solidly with his helmet and went flying across the room, the rest of his body crumpling down to the ground in a heavy heap of scrap metal. Smirking, she sauntered over to where the helmet laid, transmuting her automail back to normal. "It's about damned time," she murmured to herself, reaching to pick up the head.

Ed snatched it up before she could even reach out an touch it. Her eyes narrowed at him. "What the hell, Elric? Hand it over; I have some unfinished business with this monster."

He held the helmet away from her and leveled his gaze with hers. "We came here for information, and I'm not leaving without it. After I'm done, you can do what you will, but remember, it's your conscious, not mine," he reminded her.

"Fine," she snapped, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.

His eyes lightened somewhat by her generosity. "Good. Now," he turned to the head dangling loosely in his grip by its plume, "there's something I need to ask you about."

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Slicer's voice stated more than asked.

"Yes. Tell me everything you know about it."

"Sorry; can't."

Raven hovered menacingly over Ed's shoulder and glared contemptuously down at the helmet. "You don't exactly have a choice in the matter."

Ed nodded, his expression turning cocky. "Besides, we beat you at your own game."

Slicer's red eyes gleamed wickedly. "That's where you're wrong. I'm not beaten yet."

The familiar chink of metal pieces moving against each other drifted to their ears, and Raven spun around just in time to see the headless body of a suit of armor jab his blade directly at her spine. She half fell away from him, but his sword still managed to slice deeply into her side. Her hand clutched at the wound to stop the bleeding, her side flaring up in pain. Upon closer inspection to the armor, she saw that inked in red on the inside of one of the metal plates was a second blood seal.

"Impossible," Ed breathed beside her.

She shook her head laboriously. "No, not impossible. It all makes sense now. Why didn't I see it earlier?" she muttered to herself, wincing slightly. "Remember when I told you about my family's murder?"

Ed nodded. "You said they were killed by… a… pair of serial killers," he whispered the last part, the realization finally dawning on him.

"An independent head and body," Raven reaffirmed his belief.

The body of the armor stroked his ragged sword tenderly. "Are you ready?" he asked eagerly. "Round two's about to begin, short stack. We're going to finish what we started and wipe out the Guardel family for good this time!"

"In your nightmares!" she shouted back, her hands flying as she begun to retrace transmutation circles on the backs of her hands.

The armor darted swiftly at her, breaking her concentration and leading her to take a defensive stance. "I'm not going to give you time to transmute!" the body declared, slashing at her and pushing her backwards.

Her head was beginning to feel light from the loss of blood, and she knew that she would not be able to keep up her defense much longer. One final attack, that's all I need, she told herself. She paused long enough to trace a transmutation circle on her knuckles and make them spiked again, and tried to duck under his reach to punch his chest plate. He was faster. Just as she came within a foot of him, he clubbed her with the hilt of his sword directly into her side wound with enough force to send her flying back. She felt herself crash into Ed, his arms wrapped protectively around her as they smashed against a stone pillar. The breath whooshed out of his lungs as he was crushed between the girl in his arms and the stone column, absorbing their impact.

Without giving them a chance to recuperate, the armor charged at them with his blade at the ready and pointed directly at her head. She felt Ed stiffen behind her, his arms tightening around her small body as if by sheer willpower alone he could protect her.

Suddenly, Raven was struck by an idea. It was a repulsive idea, to steal a tactic that had been used against her in combat before, but with no other options, Raven traced a transmutation circle on the back of her hands one last time.

"Die!" she heard Slicer's brother call as he drew ever nearer to the pair of barely-conscious alchemists.

At the last moment, she thrust her hands out against the armor's midsection, and the next thing she knew, scraps of metal were flying about the air as the armored body was split apart into two.

Nearly collapsing from the drainage of energy, Raven fell back into Ed's arms, a grin playing at the edges of her lips. "Who knew that Scar's way of doing things would actually turn out to be useful?" she mused to herself. Her smile died as the coppery taste of blood filled her mouth. _Not again…  
><em>  
>The upper half of the armor began thrashing about on the ground, screaming, "How could you, you little brat! I was supposed to finally kill you! After all these years, I finally get the chance to finish you off, and you ruin it for me!"<p>

Slicer's head sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, we've lost. Now girl, come on over here and destroy us," he said.

Raven stayed where she was, still held tightly in Ed's protective arms. She tried to command her muscles to move and bring her over to where the metal bodies were laying pitifully on the floor, but they would not respond. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead, blood flowed out causing her to choke and gag.

Ed's arms stiffened around her. "Raven? Are you okay? What's going on? What's wrong?" he fired off questions, but she could barely catch her breath to answer them.

Drawing in a ragged breath, Raven managed, "We came here... for a reason. Tell us... what you know... about the Philosopher's Stone," she commanded in a raspy tone.

For a while, the room was silent save for the moments where Raven choked back her coughing. Then, the head of Slicer's armored body responded, "Alright, I'll tell you everything."

The barely audible sound of footsteps caught Raven's attention, and a curvy figure stepped out of the shadows, unnoticed by the others. A word of warning formed on Raven's lips, but was cut off by as a fit of coughing seized her, splattering blood on her and Ed's clothes. Spear like fingers shot across the room and impaled Slicer's helmet through his blood seal. She paused from her gagging and gaped at the scene playing out in front of her.

"Number Forty-Eight, you should know better than to waste your time with such frivolous actions," a silky voice echoed from the far end of the room. She was tall and curvy, wearing a dark strapless dress that accentuated her hourglass frame, gloves that nearly went up to her shoulders, and spiked, knee-high boots. Her long black hair was wavy in the extreme, almost bumpy, and though she was at a distance, Raven swore that she saw fuchsia eyes with a slitted pupil gazing with cold amusement back at her.

Behind her, another figure made its presence known. He was slightly shorter than the woman, with a more muscular build and a black shirt cut off at his stomach to reveal a well-defined abdomen. His hair was an olive green color, which was long and styled so that it strangely reminded Raven of a palm tree. His eyes were much like the woman's, only his were violet and filled with mocking bemusement. "Well, well, would you look at that," he said, his voice slightly teasing. "What's the Fullmetal pipsqueak doing here? And what's up with that Iron Haste girl? She dying or something?"

"Such a troublesome pair, these two," the woman contemplated. "Now, how did you find out about this place?" she interrogated, snapping the helmet speared on her fingers cleanly into two pieces.

The metal body of Slicer's brother began calling out to the inanimate head, but was immediately silenced as the unknown man flashed over to hover above the remains of the suit of armor, the discarded sword in his hand.

"Quit your pathetic blubbering, you idiot!" the man snapped as he repeatedly drove the blade into the armor's blood seal. "You were trying to kill two of our most important sacrifices! Do you understand me? You could have messed up the entire plan! What would we have done then? Huh?" he leered at the lifeless scrap heap.

Raven's heartbeat fluttered as he looked up from his work and sauntered over to her and Ed, the sword swung over his shoulder like a baseball bat. Ed glared threateningly up at him, pulling Raven even closer to him so that she was now sitting in his lap, feeling like a helpless child.

"Tell me who you people are. What plan are you talking about?" Ed demanded, slowly rising to his feet and shouldering Raven along with him. "What do you mean when you say 'important sacrifices'?"

The strange man leaned in so that his face was an inch or two away from Ed's. "Oh my, the pipsqueak's rearing to go. I think I made it angry," he taunted.

Ed ground his teeth together. "Don't call me pipsqueak again," he said, his voice taught with restrained anger.

"Then what would you prefer?" the man grinned. "_A_pipsqueak?"

In one swift motion, Raven was pushed to the side as Ed kicked out his leg straight at the man's face. The man dodged it and took a few steps back from the severely pissed-off looking blonde.

"Whoa now," the man said. "There's no need to fight here. Someone might get hurt, you know. And besides, shouldn't you be taking care of that one over there?" he pointed to Raven's disheveled form. "She really doesn't look too good."

Ed stood his ground and planted himself directly in front of Raven, clapping his hands together. "Don't you even think about touching her! This is a fight that you started, so come on!" he challenged. At first, he was confident that he could hold up for a few moments longer, but then his automail arm gave out completely, and dropped limply to his side.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Technical difficulties?"

The man skipped over to Ed with a gleeful expression. "Lucky me!" he said in a sing-song voice, placing his hand on top of Ed's head. He then grabbed a fistful of his braid, and kneed him hard in the stomach. Raven watched with wide eyes as Ed was pulled up to the man's face by his hair. "You're fortunate your arm's broken. If not for that, you wouldn't be getting off so easily," he whispered in Ed's ear, and dropped him to the ground where he collapsed, unmoving.

Raven felt her rage refuel as adrenaline pumped through her veins. "Stay the hell away from him!" she shouted, swinging her fist at the man's head.

He caught her wrist easily, gazing at her with mild interest. "I'm not interested in fighting a girl, especially one as cute as you. Why do you hang around this little pipsqueak when you could be so much better off?"

"Go to hell!" She tried kicking him in the stomach, but he sidestepped away from her and grabbed a hold of her neck, lifting her off her feet.

"Listen to me well, children," the woman said. "Don't ever forget this. Always remember we allowed you to live." She then turned her cold eyes toward Raven's dilated green orbs. "And you, if you die before we allow you to, the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother will receive punishment." Raven's vision was beginning to blur and turn black as unconsciousness grappled for her mind, but she saw the woman's red lips turn up in a cruel smile. "Keep that in mind as you barter for your life back," she added melodically, her voice fading away as Raven was consumed by darkness.

Then, at last, she allowed herself to be carried over into the black oblivion of nothingness.


	11. What The Soul Perceives

**Disclaimer: I don't own, blah, blah, blah. Y'all know the drill.**

**No reviews since this is another back-to-back update. They are always appreciated though! Your question answered about Rae's habbit of hacking up that lovely red stuff! **

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><p>Raven's eyes felt as if they had been sewn shut. She wondered if the feeling of tearing skin was real or imagined as she peeled them slowly open. Stark white walls, unwelcome sunshine, and the reek of antiseptic greeted her as she forced her body to sit up despite her protesting muscles. Her entire body ached as if she had been hit by a truck, and upon recalling her most recent memories, she wouldn't be surprised that she had been run over. Heck, why not? Nearly everything else had happened, so what was one more thing on the increasingly long list of bizarre occurrences she had experienced?<p>

Pressing her palm against her eye, Raven thought back on the previous twenty-four hours. The encounter with the two responsible for her brother's murder replayed in her mind, over and over again. The opportunity for revenge had been right there at her fingertips, only to slip away and fall into someone else's hands. As if that weren't enough, her reckless behavior had gotten Edward injured, no doubt hospitalized just as she was, and she never even discovered what had happened to Alphonse. She felt like a selfish idiot.

"How are you feeling?"

Raven jumped slightly at the sound of Al's voice, and then winced in pain as her side screamed in dissent. It had been thoroughly wrapped in white bandages that were in need of replacing, and no amount of painkillers swimming through her system could numb the aching wound.

"I'm fine," she lied with a reassuring smile.

Huddled in a corner, Al sat cross-legged facing her bed. An almost tangible gloom seemed to hover over him like a dark cloud, and even his voice sounded dreary. "That's good," he half-heartedly replied.

A frown line appeared between her eyebrows. "Al, what's bothering you?"

He shook his head slowly. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

Hesitating, Al lowered his gaze to his hands, then back up at the patiently-waiting girl in the hospital bed. His thoughts flashed back to the night they had snuck into the Fifth Laboratory nearly two days ago, after his provoking encounter with Barry the Chopper.

The building had begun to collapse some twenty minutes after Raven stealthily crept in after Ed, shaking the very ground beneath him. Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh had arrived on the scene only moments ago, and the instant the first shock waves had reached them, Barry took off like a bat out of hell. Ross was prepared to go into the crumbling building in search of the missing alchemists, but her would-be efforts were proven unnecessary.

One of the walls caved in, sending up pillars of dust and chunks of concrete. From the massive hole in the wall, a hulking figure stepped out calmly despite the wreckage surrounding it. As it drew nearer to them, Al realized that it was a strange-looking man, with something slung over each of his shoulders.

The man grinned as he casually made his way up to them, looking oddly at ease compared to what was going on around them. "There you are!" he exclaimed. "I brought a couple little presents for you." He swung the limp bodies of Ed and Raven off his shoulders and laid them to rest carefully on the grass at Al's feet. Straightening up, he smiled pleasantly. "This one's life isn't in danger," he remarked, jerking a thumb at Ed, "but he has lost a lot of blood. I don't know what's up with her though," he now directed his attention at Raven. "She randomly started coughing up blood and just about half her lung. You might want to get them to a hospital as soon as you can. They're precious resources..."

"Al?" Raven's worried voice dredged him back from his unnerving memories.

He sighed heavily. "Lieutenant Ross told me about what happened."

Raven's green orbs flashed, and she mashed her lips together in a tight line.

"How long have you been coughing up blood?" Al continued.

Raven remained silent.

"Why does it happen?"

More silence.

"How long has it been going on?"

Silence.

Al's carefully constructed patience finally fell apart. "I'm tired of never getting an answer from you! Why don't you ever tell us what's going on?"

"I'm dying, Al."

If he'd had a normal human body, his breath would have frozen in his chest. "What?" he asked softly.

Raven's usually brilliant green eyes looked dull and tired, as if she was burdened by a great weight. "I told you that I gave up my arms from the elbow down performing human transmutation and trying to bring my brother back to life. Well, that's true, but there's more to it." Her fist knotted in the thin bed sheet. "A part of my soul was also taken, my life force.

"A body can't sustain itself for very long without its entire soul. It's like having a portion of your heart ripped away. It may take years, but you'll eventually die from it. Coughing up blood is only a side effect, but in a way, it's a useful tool in helping calculate how much time you have left until your body gives out. The more frequently it happens, the closer you get to the end," she explained.

"That's why you were so interested in bioalchemy," Al voiced his realization aloud. "That's why you came with us to find the Philosopher's Stone."

Nodding solemnly, Raven continued, "When I came to the conclusion that bioalchemy was a dead end, I knew that my only chance at living was finding the Philosopher's Stone. Getting my arms backs was something I wasn't overly concerned with; restoring my soul became my primary goal. I have to find the Stone. I have no choice," she finished quietly.

Silence filled the air as Raven allowed her words to sink in.

"Why?" Al finally asked. "Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" be exclaimed.

"Because it's not your burden to bear, it's mine," she responded indignantly. "It's my mistake and I'm paying for it. I refuse to drag you two down with me. You have enough on your minds as it is, and the last thing I want is for you to worry about me."

"Is that why you told Lieutenant Ross to keep it a secret from us?"

"Yes, and it's the same reason you have to promise not to tell Ed."

There was a brief moment where the room stood still, and then swiftly shattered into tiny fragments. "What? Why? You honestly expect me to lie to my brother?"

Raven's expression hardened. "That's exactly what I expect," she said seriously.

"But you have to tell him!" Al objected. "He ought to know!"

"What do you want me to say, Al?" she asked, her voice eerily calm but hinting at a tightly controlled temperament. "_What do you want me to say?_You want me to walk up to Edward and say, 'Hey, how's it going? Oh, by the way, I'm slowly dying from having part of my soul ripped out, and I've been coughing up blood since I was eight because of it. What's new with you?'" Her eyes hardened into emeralds. "How do you think he'd react?"

_CRASH!_

Leaping to her feet, Raven jostled her side and felt her wound tear open slightly as she crawled out of the hospital bed. Moving carefully, she managed to lug the heavy door to her room open, and froze.

Standing fixed as a marble statue in the hallway outside her door, was a shell-shocked Edward. A cracked plastic tray lay at his feet, bits of food and ceramic dishes strewn about on the floor. Reluctantly drawing her eyes up to his face, she saw that it was a mask of horror and astonishment, his wide golden eyes filled with hurt and betrayal. "Is it true?" he whispered, his words barely audible.

Wiping the panic written plainly on her face away, Raven attempted to compose herself. "I can explain..." she began.

"Is it true?" he repeated in a louder voice, tight with restrained anger.

Looking off to the side, Raven refused to meet his gaze, and remained silent.

"Let me guess," he continued in a sarcastic tone. "You didn't want us to worry?"

Still, she said nothing.

"Are you really just gonna stand there like that?" Ed shouted. "Why don't you ever tell us what's going on? We have a right to know, damn it!"

Finally, Raven picked up her head and stared at him with dead eyes, looking older and more tired than a fifteen-year-old ever should. "Are you finished?" she breathed.

Ed's mouth mashed together in a hard line, his eyes blazing furiously like wildfire.

Sighing, Raven suddenly felt exhausted, both physically and mentally worn out. "Alright then," she murmured, slipping out the door and shuffling past a still-frozen Ed, ignoring the discarded food splattered all over the hall. As she went to move around him, Ed's hand shot out and grabbed Raven's arm. She paused, waiting for the imminent explosion she had been anticipating.

"At least explain why," he said through clenched teeth, obviously fighting to keep his temper in check. "Why didn't you tell us about this before?"

Hesitating momentarily, Raven carefully pried Ed's fingers from her arm and returned them to his side. His eyes glanced down at her stomach where he saw red beginning to seep through her soiled bandages and now her mint green scrubs. Once again, he knew she was in pain, but hid it too well. She was a far better actress than he had originally credited her for, and that only added fuel to his rage. She would never tell them the truth about what she was going through, would she?

"I _did_tell you," she finally said. "You just never heard me."

Despite her aching side that urged her to return to her bed, Raven's feet led her down the hallway and around the corner, disappearing from sight.

Ed's fist clenched and unclenched involuntarily without his even being conscious of it. First his brother, now Raven. Everyone was keeping secrets from him.

_I _did_ tell you.  
><em>  
>As her words rang through his mind, they summoned up memories of his past conversations with her. Two in particular drifted to the surface of his conscious. First, back in Risembool when she had snapped at him. <em>I've had so much taken away from me. My family. My home. My arms. My identity. My own soul!<em> He never would have imagined that her words were literal, that she had actually given up a part of her very core. _I've already sold my soul,_she'd told him back in the Fifth Laboratory. Again, he words had been literal, but he'd misinterpreted them as something else entirely.

"Damn it," he hissed under his breath. "How the hell was I supposed to know? Why didn't she just tell me?"

His brother rose from his seat on the floor from where he had tucked himself away in a corner and stood in the doorway, staring at the spot Raven had disappeared. "I'll go talk to her," he said quietly, moving out into the hallway.

"No," Ed managed between his teeth. "I'll go. I'm done with all the crap; I need to hear it straight for once."

Al shook his head. "You'll only upset her more if you keep yelling at her. I'll go; you stay here and let your wounds heal. Neither of you have recovered yet, and you still need to get your arm fixed," he reminded his brother, already heading to where be had a good hunch where the girl would be hiding.

There was more he wanted to say, more he wanted to ask his older brother, but he would save it for later. When the pair of alchemists weren't at each other's throats, for example. Assuming, of course, that day ever came.

* * *

><p>A cool, light breeze blew strands of Raven's hair in her face, her bangs tickling her eyes. They gazed out at the bustling city below her, unseeing and uncaring from the hospital roof above. An elderly couple walked hand in hand in the street directly below her, smiling and laughing while they reminisced about 'the good old days'. There was a time in her life when she wished she'd never grow up or grow old. Now that living to be at least half the couple's age was impossible, Raven felt envious of the pair. They could have a long, happy life together. They had something that would probably never be hers.<p>

The last time she had been coughing up blood at regular intervals was over a year ago, and at the rate it was going now, Raven figured she had at most ten, fifteen years left in her lifespan. Finding the Philosopher's Stone was critical at this point, but she found herself treading with caution on the subject. Was saving her life really worth the lives of countless others? Were hundreds of people worth having the chance to walk in the same shoes as the old and withered white-haired people below?

Her hand wrapped strands of her silver bangs around her mechanical fingers. "Do you want to know why my hair is white?" she asked aloud.

At first, there was no reply but the whistling of the wind. Then, a tired, childlike voice finally replied, "Does it have something to do with your soul?"

She turned her head slowly around to gaze solemnly at the suit of armor she now called family. After the morning's events however, she wouldn't be surprised if he hated her. She couldn't blame him; she hated herself for what she'd brought upon the Elrics.

"It sped up my aging process a bit," she explained. "Part of my hair turned white like an old woman's, and I matured faster than anyone anticipated from an eight-year-old." She smiled to herself, barely lifting the corner of her lips. "Somehow though, I always stayed a short little pipsqueak," she mused. She stared out long and hard at the horizon, wondering how many more times she would get to see the sun rise and set. "I know this is gonna sound pretty weird, but I wish I was like you, Al. You don't have to worry about your body shutting down on you." She glanced down at her red-stained torso that had recently gone numb. "Or bleeding, for that matter," she noted tonelessly, turning back to people-watching.

Shifting uncomfortably, Al replied, "You should really come back down and rest. You need to give yourself time for your wound to heal."

Ignoring his statement, Raven said, "What's really bothering you, Al?" Smirking over her shoulder, she almost looked like her normal self. "Don't try and lie to me. I know something's up, so tell me."

Al avoided her gaze, staring blankly at the ground. He found that he had an uncanny knack for reading the girl, but he had not anticipated her retaliation of finding the weak spots in his carefully constructed emotional barrier. He also found that unlike her, he couldn't keep a secret. "I'm not sure what to believe anymore. How can I know for sure that I ever really existed? Who's to say that my memories, my life, ever existed?" he asked, his voice cracking.

"That's simple, idiot!" Raven stated, spinning around and marching up to the suit of armor, getting within one foot of him. Her eyes were hard as she glared up at him, poking a mechanical finger at his chest plate. "Ask him yourself."

Al held his breath, not expecting her answer. "What?"

"Ask your brother yourself," she repeated more slowly, putting emphasis on each individual word. "He's the only one who can give you the answer you need to hear." She paused, cocking her head to the side and narrowing her eyes at him. "How long have you been sitting on this? When did you start thinking about these things?"

"I-" he began, but his voice faltered until it altogether failed him. "I'm sorry," he murmured under his breath.

Raven's eyes misted over as she gazed sadly at Alphonse. They were all so young, but carried the burdens of those who surpassed them by fifty years. They were tortured with the tasks of living out a special kind of hell that no one their ages should ever have to experience.

Finally, she caved in and wrapped her arms around the suit of armor in a tight hug. "No more secrets," she murmured into a plate of cool metal. "No more keeping things hidden. Deal?" she offered, pressing her cheek against him.

After recovering from his brief moment of shock, he tenderly wrapped his arms around her tiny figure. "Deal," he agreed.

* * *

><p>"Why the hell can't these things ever work out the way they're supposed to?" Raven moaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned back against the pillow of her hospital bed.<p>

Winry stood gaping in the doorway, Major Armstrong hovering silently and diligently behind her. Her toolbox dangled loosely in her grip to the point where Raven was convinced that the girl would drop it. Her usually bright blue eyes were clouded over with dismay as she stared openmouthed at the bedridden girl. Raven's shirt was pulled up to expose her midriff, which she was currently wrapping in fresh bandages- a task the understaffed doctors seemed to constantly forget. Though the wound was readily healing, an angry red scar still marred her otherwise smooth and fair skin. Winry's lips were moving, forming words, but no sound came out.

Raven shrunk back a bit into the mattress, smiling sheepishly as she nonchalantly pulled the coarse fabric down over her stomach. "Uh, hey Winry," she said hesitantly. "How's it going?"

Finally regaining control of her voice, Winry's mouth formed a tight line. "What happened?" she demanded.

Scratching the back of her head, Raven swung her legs over the side of her bed and rose steadily to her feet. "You came because of Ed's arm, right?" she attempted to distract the blonde. "I'll show you to his room," she offered, leading a silently fuming Winry down the hall to the room she knew Ed was in.

As she led her down the busy hall, Raven could feel the waves of anxiety and hostility rolling off of Winry. She had been careful to change the subject about the events concerning the Fifth Laboratory, and she could sense Winry's tension as she patiently waited for an explanation that would never come. A part of Raven couldn't blame the girl for being upset about being kept in the dark; as a close friend of the Elrics, Raven thought that she deserved a bit more from the brothers. But then again, hadn't Raven done the exact same thing and kept things hidden?

When they reached his room, Raven paused outside the door, her hand resting lightly on the doorknob. She turned to Winry. "Don't freak out, okay? And don't be too hard on him; he's got a lot on his mind at the moment," she said, earning her a slightly worried glance from Winry.

Without preamble, she tugged the door open slowly and gestured for Winry to enter. She did, and abruptly stopped dead in her tracks. She stared, wide-eyed at Ed sitting on the edge of his bed, wrapped in bandages and his right arm in a sling. "What happened?" she exclaimed in demand, the large toolbox finally falling out of her grip and landing on the floor with a harsh clunk. Lieutenant Ross stood at the doorway, keeping careful watch and looking ready for the worst, Sergeant Brosh mirroring her as Armstrong assumed a similar position near the doorway. Judging from Winry's expression, Raven figured that she knew that they were acting as security guards, which only seemed to fuel her incessant worrying.

Ed's forehead broke out in sweat. "That didn't take long," he muttered to himself. "You're gonna charge me an express service fee now, aren't you?" he said lightly, trying to let Winry know he wasn't in that much pain.

To everyone's surprise, Winry shrunk back a bit, looking suddenly downcast. "No, I… I won't charge you for this. I didn't do a good enough job on your automail last time," she said gloomily, averting her eyes to the floor. "And now you're badly injured," she sounded on the verge of tears.

Every pair of eyes snapped to Ed, glaring at him with varying amounts of intensity, but they all said the same thing: 'you made her cry.'

Twitching under their piercing gazes, Ed was quick to reassure her. "It's not your fault!" he exclaimed, waving his good arm around frantically. "You can't blame yourself for this! I broke it because I was being reckless! Your repairs were as flawless as ever! This was all my fault!" With his eyes, he deliberately glanced at Raven who was half hidden behind Winry. Though she knew he would never say it, the fault also fell on her shoulders for their current position.

After a brief moment of silence, Winry broke out in hysterical laughter, thoroughly surprising everyone and leaping over to Ed's side with a strange twinkle in her eyes. "Well then, let's go ahead and get right down to business, shall we?" she said giddily. "I'll have to charge you the usual rush order fee of course," she added with a grin, making Ed's mouth fall open in astonishment. Something on her left caught her eye, and she glanced off to the side to see a bottle of untouched milk sitting beside an empty cafeteria plate. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance at the boy. "You didn't drink your milk," she stated accusingly.

Ed scowled. "Why should I? I hate it," he muttered contemptuously.

"You're going to be small and stunted forever if you keep using that stupid excuse!" Winry shouted in vexation.

"Shut up!" Ed shot back defiantly. "I don't have to drink it if I don't wanna! I'm not the only one!" he pointed a finger accusingly at Raven, who was trying with difficulty not to laugh. "She's worse than me!"

Raven's eyes widened and her laughter died in her throat as Winry turned her reproachful gaze at her, trying her best to look innocent but failing miserably under the other girl's scorning eyes. "Is that so?" Winry asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Uh," a bead of sweat ran off Raven's forehead. "I'm deathly allergic to it?" she tried.

"Liar!" Winry and Ed spat in unison.

Raven threw her arms up in vexation. "Well sorry if not everything I do lives up to your standards and I don't like something you do! Sorry that I actually have good taste!" she shouted in defense.

As if appearing out of thin air, Major Armstrong loomed up over her from behind and glared down at her like a bug under a microscope. "You both sound like spoiled little brats!" he fumed, ripping off his shirt and unnecessarily flexing his massive muscles.

Instinctively, Raven flinched away from him, but ended up bumping into Winry instead. The girl grabbed her ear and dragged her over by Ed, neither of them looking pleased to be near each other, and smacked their heads together. "It's no wonder you're so short," Winry yelled in Raven's ear, "you're as bad as he is!"

Ross folded her arms over her chest and looked at the pair of them like a scolding teacher. "Every growing child needs to drink milk," she stated firmly.

"Yeah," Brosh added in encouragement. "Don't you want the girls to like you?" he rhetorically asked Ed. "And don't you want to… grow into yourself a bit?" he hesitantly said to Raven, not sure of the right words to say to her.

Her mouth fell open as she stared at him with eyes that screamed 'what the freaking hell?' "Why is it that all of you have to be freaking perverts? There's more to a girl than just boobs you know!"

Winry abruptly pulled her into a headlock. "Just drink the damn milk already!" she vented, pulling on Ed's cheek as if it would make him do as she wanted.

Out of the corner of her eye, Raven caught a swift glance at the door as it softly closed with a click, the unmistakable glint of metal plates reflecting sunlight into the room. She blinked, seeing that by now most of the room had turned to stare questioningly at the door, wondering where the sound had come from. "Was that Al?" she asked to no one in particular, and no one seemed to hold the answer for absolute certain.

As suddenly as Winry had taken hold of her, she released both Raven and Ed, but demanded that Raven remain in the room while she went to work on Ed's arm. Though every bone in her body screamed for her to leave and go find Al, she resolved herself to sitting cross-legged in the corner of the room. While she sat glaring off to the side at nothing in particular, Winry was hunched over Ed's arm, working meticulously. He lay on his stomach, facing the wall so she could work on his arm from a better angle, but also so that he could more easily ignore the sulking girl in the corner.

After a few minutes of complete silence besides the scraping of metal pieces against each other, Winry voiced her growing suspicions. "Is something going on between you two that you're acting like this?"

Rolling her eyes, Raven retorted, "Other than the fact that Ed decided to return to first grade and give me the silent treatment, no, not really," she stated and folded her arms across her chest.

Even from across the room, she could hear Ed's teeth as they ground together. "Other than the fact that Raven's going to die any day now, nothing new," he shot back.

Thumping him lightly on the back of the head with her wrench, Winry frowned. "So what, now you're threatening to kill her?"

Though she couldn't see it, Raven knew that Ed was smirking into the wall as he replied, "Oh that's right! You don't know, do you? Raven lost part of her soul when she performed human transmutation and it's slowly killing her," he stated with false enthusiasm.

Pausing from tightening a bolt into place, Winry turned to stare at the grimacing Raven. "What?" she said softly. "Is he serious?"

Glaring pointedly at a smug-looking Edward, she answered, "Yes. But since Ed's a moron, he didn't figure it out until the third time I told him. Insensitive deaf jerk," she muttered under her breath.

"Oh, so now it's my fault?" Ed drawled. "Do you just never tell anyone the whole truth about anything, or do you reserve that especially for the people that actually care about you?"

"Fact: never tell people about your problems. Twenty percent honestly don't care and the other eighty percent are glad you have them," Raven rattled off.

Her statement was enough to tick him off to the point where he finally sat up and turned around to glare at her, his hand twitching to throw Winry's wrench. "Contrary to your belief, not everyone in the world is out to get you. I've told you how many times now that you can trust us? Sounds to me like you're the deaf one here."

Shaking her head in feeble attempt to clear it, Winry blinked fiercely, scrutinizing Raven more closely. Now that she knew the truth, she could see finer details she had overlooked about Raven when she had first met the girl. There were bags and bruise-like dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed to radiate exhaustion. Her collarbone was extremely prominent, and she seemed even slimmer than usual, as if she had lost weight. Winry's eyebrows furrowed. "He's right; you should have told us. We're your friends, you can lean on us you know," she said as the corner of her mouth twitched up, her best attempt at a smile.

Taken aback by her unexpected kindness, Raven blinked. "I just…" she began, but words failed her. Her excuse suddenly seemed pathetic, even to her. Especially to her

Sensing her sudden mood swing, Ed laid back down on his stomach to allow Winry to resume her repairing. He was nowhere near ready to let her off the hook, but he figured that his method of constant insults wasn't very progressive and results weren't promising. He inclined himself to allow her time to mull things over for herself, give her a chance to decide where to go from here. "If you ever want to talk… we're always here for you," he said softly, burying his face in his pillow.

Fidgeting in her place, Raven replied sheepishly, "Well, this doesn't have a whole lot to do with me, but I'm really worried about Al," she admitted, hugging her knees to her chest.

Ed propped his chin up higher on his pillow. "I've noticed that too. He's been acting really weird lately."

Not breaking stride from her work, Winry screwed a bolt into place as she questioned, "Weird how?"

Sighing, Ed sunk back into the soft down of his pillow. "It just seems like something's been bothering him," he replied softly.

Raven was tempted to say something, steer Ed in the right direction of talking with his brother, but she hesitated. This was something the brothers needed to work out themselves, and she knew all too well the consequences of interfering in other people's business. Maybe she could hint at Ed to talk to his younger brother and set things right with their past, but then again, Ed never was one to take a hint. Raven frowned. _Yeah, even after I gave him three he was still as clueless an idiot as ever.  
><em>  
>"Okay," Winry's voice broke Raven out of her reverie. "You're all set," she announced, pulling off her worn-out work gloves.<p>

Pulling himself into a sitting position, Ed rotated his shoulder, testing out the new gears. "Feels good to have it back!" Ed beamed. "Wow, thanks a lot!"

Raven smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Now you know how I felt when your nonexistent sense of direction cost me my arms," she teased.

Ed rolled his eyes, but grinned anyway. Winry however cocked her head to the side questioningly. "Cost you your arms?" she muttered softly.

Realizing her mistake, Raven scratched the back of her head nervously. "Uh..."

To her relief, the door burst open and Maes Hughes strutted inside, his usual wide smile etched on his face. "Yo!" he greeted. "Ed, my boy! Is it true you brought a pretty blonde girl to your room to service you?" he said with a straight face.

Raven had to cover her hysterical laughter with both hands as Ed slid from his bed onto the floor, landing solidly on his face. Behind him, Winry's jaw dropped slightly, her face flushing tomato red. Lifting himself to his knees, Ed shot back, "She's my automail mechanic! That's it! Nothing more!" he said quickly, a light blush spreading across his cheeks.

Hughes's eyes flashed in acknowledgment. "Oh, I see," he said thoughtfully, rubbing the stubble of a beard on his chin. "You've seduced your mechanic, have you?"

Ed slapped his palm against his forehead. "No! That isn't what I said at all! Were you even listening to me?" he shouted in vexation.

Raven broke out in a fit of laughter, clutching her side as tears sprang from her eyes. This drew Hughes's attention to the girl in the corner lying on her back and rolling on the floor as another bout of laughter took her. His grin widened as a sudden thought occurred to him. "And you, my little Rae," he pointed an accusing finger at her, stifling the giggles in her throat. "I heard that you were locked in a very passionate embrace up on the roof with a certain younger Elric brother," he folded his arms over his chest triumphantly.

Now it was Raven's turn to blush. "It was just a hug!" she stuttered, scrambling into a sitting position and trying her best to avoid eye contact with Ed. From the corner of her eye, she could see he was staring at her with bulging eyes and openly gaping expression. "It's not even possible to do whatever gross thing you're thinking! We were only hugging!" she added quickly.

Chuckling at the amount of commotion he had created, Hughes walked over to the side of the bed, extending his hand out welcomingly to Winry. "Maes Hughes," he introduced with a pleasant smile. Smiling back, Winry graciously accepted his hand, which he began to shake enthusiastically. "I'm pleased to meet you, young lady."

"Winry Rockbell," she responded, not at all bothered by his behavior.

Coughing loudly to break the moment, Raven distracted the Lieutenant Colonel's attention from the avid hand-shaking. "Um, not that it's not great to see you Hughes, but don't you have work to do?" she asked sheepishly.

Turning to her with a victorious expression, he replied, "It's all under control. I gave Sheska some overtime."

Sliding back up from the ground and onto hid bed, Ed retorted, "You're a real jerk, aren't ya?" he stated more than asked, but Raven could still hear the joking undertone in his voice.

"Oh yeah," Hughes continued as if Ed had never spoken, "I think you'll be happy to know that you, Al, and Rae shouldn't have to be kept under guard for too much longer."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Raven said, "Finally! Freedom!"

Ed nodded in agreement. "That's great news!"

"Did you say..." Winry breathed, and Raven could once again feel the waves of fury rolling off the girl. Frowning, she put her hands on her hips as she leaned down over Ed. "Hold on just a second! How much trouble have you gotten yourselves into this time?" she demanded.

Fidgeting uncomfortably under her gaze, Ed stuttered, "Uh... well... you see, it's..." he paused, taking in a deep breath and forcing himself to look away from her. "Well, it's nothing that concerns you," he stated firmly.

For a while, there was nothing but silence as Winry continued to glare at the back of Ed's head, trying unsuccessfully to pry an answer from him. She cast a sidelong glance at Raven in hopes that the other girl would break down and tell her some scrap of information, but the alchemist only gave her an imperceptible shake of her head. Raven knew that Winry had a tendency to overanalyze things and that she would probably image the worst-case-scenario, but in this instance, she figured that with Winry, ignorance was bliss.

Scowling, Winry straightened up and closed her eyes as she fought to control her growing annoyance. "Of course not," she muttered. "I don't know why I even bother to try. It's not like you'll talk to me anyway." Sighing, she opened her eyes and moved around the bed to the doorway. "Fine," she huffed. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she bent down to retrieve her toolkit, slinging it over her shoulder. "I have to go and see if I can find someplace to stay tonight."

"Come on," Hughes said jokingly. "No need for that! Why don't you spend the night at my place?" he offered.

Winry blinked once in surprise at his generosity. "Really?"

"Yes, of course," he insisted. "My wife and daughter will be delighted to have you!"

She tried to argue further, but once Hughes was dead set on having her stay at his home, there was no point in trying to convince him otherwise. He practically dragged her out of the room by her collar, carrying her toolbox on his shoulder and waving a noncommittal farewell at the perplexed officers and alchemists.

Tearing her eyes away from the empty doorway, Raven caught sight of Ed scrutinizing her carefully like a bug under a microscope. Glaring at him with an annoyed expression, she snapped, "What?"

Narrowing his eyes at her, he replied, "What were you doing with Al up on the roof? All alone?"

Grinding her teeth together, Raven rose from her seat, walked over to Ed, and cuffed him on the back of the head. "We were just talking and then we hugged! Quit making a big deal out of nothing!" she fumed.

Rubbing the back of his head, Ed retorted, "He's my younger brother! It's my job to ask questions!"

Smirking, Raven folded her arms over her chest. "I bet that you're jealous because it's yet another thing he's beaten you at," she said airily, spinning on her heel and heading for the door.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed demanded behind her.

Her grin widened. "Well, he's more popular with the ladies, stronger than you, nicer, kinder, more thoughtful… _taller_," she leered over her shoulder, darting out into the hallway as he chucked his untouched bottle of milk at her. It shattered against the wall, sending white liquid spraying everything in sight and broken shards of glass littered the tile floor. Poking her head back into the room, she saw that Ed was red in the face with boiling rage, steam practically roiling out of his ears. "You'll probably have to pay for that," she teased, ducking out of the way as he proceeded to throw a chunk of crusty bread at her face. Giggling, she began making her way down the hall back toward her room. "See you tomorrow, shrimptastic!" she called over her shoulder, laughing even more as a series of curses drifted to her ears.

"You are _so_never getting off the hook for this!" she distantly heard Ed shout until his voice faded completely.

As she walked slowly down the empty halls of the hospital, she found herself feeling genuinely optimistic. _Things are probably going to get worse before they get better, _she thought to herself_, but it'll be worth it. I'm not ready to die just yet. Not before the better part comes around._


	12. Family Reunion

**Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure you all know this one by heart, so sing along if you want to! I don't own FMA, all rights go to Arakawa.**

**KarmaHope: Unfortunately, double updates won't happen very often from now on. I started school last week, and all, yes, all of my classes are AP and honors. I'll still update when I can, but I doubt I'll be able to post like I have been. **

**FullMetal: I know what you mean about HP. It's like the end of an era! (If you can't tell, I'm a huge movie/anime fan). About the length of these chapters: I have a hard time sometimes finding a cutoff, so they tend to get long fast. I had almost all of the chapters I've posted written before I even came to FanFiction (I have an account on Quizilla, but I like FF better), hence the insane posting. However, updates will probably be slower now that I started school again... KILL ME NOW!**

**Seize the Rain: You think you're bad? I wrote the story and half the time I forget she has partly white hair. Don't feel bad, I only mentioned it like, once (when she was first introduced), and the same goes for the thing about milk. You gotta love Hughes! He is one of my all-time favorite anime characters! Yes, though the two pipsqueaks have much in common, they like to battle it out A LOT. Lol, I loved your review, even if you think it doesn't make sense!**

**Chipmunkgirl234: Rae is a tough cookie! I want a cookie now... Anyway, I must agree, making fun of Ed's height is always a good time! Except for one thing: I recently discovered that he's taller than me. And I'm sixteen. WTF!! Okay, I'm better now. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Fawndapple: Just because I love him so much, I came up with a list of names to call my favorite shrimp in the future of this story. Lol, love your review!**

**Have I ever mentioned how much I love you guys that follow/favorite/read my story? Well, I do. You're all awesome! Here's my update!**

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><p>"You're leaving?" Ed and Al demanded in unison, openly gaping at a travel-ready Raven.<p>

She had changed out of the hideous hospital gown the instant she was told she could leave into more suitable clothing, courtesy of Winry. This included a dark grey tank top, a sleeveless sweatshirt the same color as her eyes, a pair of black shorts, and dark brown boots. Seeing there was no longer any point in hiding things, Raven gave up on the idea of concealing her automail arms, figuring she may as well wear her scars with pride.

The brothers had stopped by her room for a mini-celebration at their new freedom from Armstrong's men and their release from the hospital. To their surprise, they found that she had already heard the news. Not only was she checking out of the place, she even had a task at hand.

"It's not that I don't love your company," she drawled as she slid her arms into the sleeves of her army green sweatshirt, "but Mustang said he had a mission for me. I took it. I'm sorry I didn't run it by you and see if it was okay, master," she sneered, rolling her eyes.

Ed's jaw dropped in exasperated astonishment. "Is this because you're still mad at me being mad at you?" he stated more than asked. "You're seriously going through all this trouble just to avoid me?"

Folding her arms over her chest, Raven replied in an even tone, "Maybe some separation could be good for us; a little distance is necessary considering how much time we've spent together. Plus, I have a few... personal ties to this mission. I can't turn my back on it now," it took all her willpower to hold back the sarcastic edge to her voice fighting to appear.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Raven recalled her earlier meeting with the Colonel.

Mustang blinked at the Iron Haste Alchemist before him from the paperwork scattered about on his desk. For a girl who had sustained severe injuries, the girl looked remarkably well- either that or it was yet another display of her excellent acting. She held her ground in front of the Colonel's desk with a slightly troubled expression, as if she had something on her mind, but forced the thought aside.

"With your permission sir, I'd like to request a mission as soon as possible," she stated, sounding uncharacteristically formal.

Setting his pen atop the current file, Mustang sat back in his chair and eyed Raven more closely. "I'll admit, I'm no doctor, but shouldn't you be in the hospital right now?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Restraining a massive sigh, Raven replied, "I'm fine. The doctors said I would make a full recovery within a few days, and I already feel better."

Mouth twitching up in a smirk, the Colonel responded, "Have you been released from the hospital yet?"

His question hit its mark, causing Raven to uncomfortably shift her weight from foot to foot. "There's nothing wrong with taking a stroll outside the facility... even if the doctors don't..." she rolled her eyes, giving up on the vain hope of lying her way through. "Okay, so I snuck out for a bit. You would too if you were stuck listening to that stupid pipsqueak rant about his height, his tin can brother who suddenly knows how to read my mind, Hughes gushing over his daughter's birthday party, Major Musclehead and his little brigade lecturing me about my behavior-" she absent-mindedly rubbed her cheek where Ross had smacked her- "and now the annoying automail mechanic beating me upside the head with a wrench!" Raven finished in a single  
>breath, exasperated.<p>

Mustang raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. This was perhaps the most he had ever heard her speak, and not only that, it was one of the rare occasions in which she was complaining. She usually bore her burdens in silence, so hearing all this from the normally silent girl was shocking to say the least.

Folding his hands under his chin, he leaned forward on his desk, his eyes cool and calculating. "I do have one thing available, if you're up for it," he reached for a thick manila folder stacked in the corner of his desk.

Nodding without hesitation, Raven quickly agreed. "I'll take it. What are the details?" she asked as she took the file from his hand, absent-mindedly flipping it open and skimming through the report.

"There's been some strange activity being reported about a bar called the Devil's Nest, rumors of illegal activity; A gang of some sorts with atypical members. The townspeople say they're assassins for hire, but the military suspects differently. I want you go and check this group out, covertly of course," he added as if it were an afterthought.

As she listened to him speak, she nodded along as she filed the information into her brain while she continued to read. She froze however when her eyes scanned over a single word, the location of where the group's hideout was. Flinging the file back down on his desk, she glared at the Colonel in outrage. "Is this your idea of a joke?" she spat.

He gazed at her mockingly, but his face was deadly serious. "Do I look like I'm kidding around?" he questioned.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Raven growled, "I'm not going."

Smiling with smug satisfaction, Mustang shook his head. "Afraid you can't argue. You already agreed; it's not my fault you didn't read the profile before deciding to take the mission."

Scowling at the impish-looking Colonel, Raven said tightly, "You know why I can't go to Dublith."

"If you don't face your problems head-on, then you won't get any stronger. I don't remember saying you had to face it while you're there, all I said was to complete the mission. It's your choice entirely if you want to deal with your family issues after you've finished, so long as you follow your orders, Iron Haste."

She hated to admit it, but the man had a point. Maybe she could find a way to avoid a confrontation or the problem altogether. It shouldn't be too difficult if she were to be going in undercover. Raven knew how to blend in and become someone else, so how hard could it be?

"Fine," she finally huffed. "I'll take the next train out."

Grinning, Mustang murmured quietly in triumph, "I thought you'd say that."

Forcing herself out of her reverie, Raven blinked fiercely in concentration as she began stuffing a shoulder pack with extra clothes and other basic necessities she would need for the trip. "It shouldn't take too long for me to wrap this up, and when I'm done maybe if you still don't hate my guts and you're somehow still alive, I'll meet up with you," she remarked as she snapped the bag shut.

Rolling his eyes at her, Ed folded his arms over his chest. "You're not getting off this easily. I intend to make you pay up for not telling us sooner, so I'll hold you to the meeting up with us part."

"Whatever," Raven said absent-mindedly, not paying much attention to the conversation. "You and Al can leave now too, so where're you headed?"

"We're taking Winry to Rush Valley before we make our final stop to visit our old alchemy teacher," Al replied. "It's nicknamed 'the holy land of automail', so Winry insisted on coming with us," he explained.

Raising a mischievous eyebrow, Raven smirked at the brothers. "She suckered you into it pretty good, huh?" she teased. "Well, she deserves something nice from you two anyway." Blinking, Raven recalled something Al had previously said. "You said you were going to visit your teacher?" They nodded. "Where?"

"Dublith," Ed responded with a sullen expression, as if he were already dreading the upcoming meeting.

For a moment, Raven stood unmoving and rooted to the floor. Then, in one swift motion, she flung her bag, aiming for Ed's face- missing by several feet- and stomped around the hospital room, fuming as a steady stream of curses flowed from her mouth. "Are you freaking kidding me?" she shrieked as she punched a hole through the wall.

Raising their arms in surrender, the Elrics backed slowly away from her, Ed moving to hide himself behind his armored brother. "What's got you all hyped up?" he hesitantly asked, not sure if he wanted to hear her answer.

Pausing momentarily from her rampage, Raven turned to glare at him with blazing eyes that could've set the building ablaze. "That damned Mustang," she hissed. "He knew! He knew the whole time!" She threw her hands up in outrage. "That cutthroat, lying bastard!"

"Calm down, crazy psycho!" Ed shouted unhelpfully.

"What did you say about Mustang?" Al questioned, taking a more direct approach.

Her rage simmering down a bit, Raven took a deep breath before she answered, "He sent me on a mission to Dublith knowing that I had personal ties to the city and that you guys were heading there. Sly dog," she added under her breath.

Eyes lighting up at hearing the location of her mission, Ed came out from his hiding place and leered in Raven's face. "Karma has it in for you," he taunted in a sing-song voice. Patting her on the head, he continued in the same condescending tone, "Payback's one hell of a bitch ain't it?"

Grabbing his wrist in one hand, she glared icily at him then punched the side of his head none too gently. "First, what have I told you about touching me?" she scolded as she nudged his small form curled up in a ball at her feet. "Second, it's your fault my karma's all screwed up. You just had to pick me up from that desert wasteland Lior, didn't you, little hero?" she sneered.

Picking his head up, he glowered at her with unamused eyes. "Who're you callin' little?" he spat, shoving her foot away and picking himself and his withering dignity off the floor. "We'll meet you in Dublith then," he said shortly.

Nodding, Raven agreed. "And remember," she reminded as she hesitated in the doorway, "absolutely no dying on me while I'm not with you."

"Likewise," Ed responded with a tiny grin. It would take a while for him to get used to her bizarre sense of humor when it came to life and death.

Turning to Al, Raven smiled reassuringly at the suit of armor. "Keep an eye on him for me. Both of you, stay safe, got it?"

"Yes ma'am," Al joked, saluting her. "Be careful and good luck on your mission. We'll see you soon!" he called as she began making her way down the hall.

Waving cheerfully over her shoulder, Raven smiled brightly at the pair. "See ya!" she said as she turned the corner and headed for the exit.

She partly wished she could've said goodbye to Winry before leaving, but she figured that she'd get to see her again in Dublith. Sighing to herself as she worked her way meticulously through the crowded streets to the train station, Raven began having second thoughts about the mission. Mustang had been right that dealing with a long-forgotten problem wasn't part of the job description, but Dublith was a small town. All the residents knew each other and would undoubtedly notice a stranger, especially one that was a fifteen-year-old girl with prosthetic arms. One way or another, she would probably end up facing her.

Her aunt.

Nestling herself into a seat in the passenger car, Raven rested her head against the glass window, staring out at the world with unseeing eyes. The ride would take ten hours- more than enough time to go over the finer details of the mission and figure out a plan of action for her reunion with her aunt. Glancing over the file resting in her lap, Raven filled her mind with photographs of faces, places, and names. If these people really were mercenaries of some kind, then she would have to lure them out somehow without alerting them about the State Military's involvement. If she posed as a client asking for a hit on someone, it could possibly get her the break she was looking for. They were no ordinary assassins, so coming to them with an ordinary target for execution was out of the question. She had one ideal person in mind, but if word got out about it, she'd be in one hell of a mess. _Might as well take the risk_, she decided. _It's not like I'm actually ordering a bounty for his head. It's the only thing a higher class mercenary would be willing to go for. I just hope no one outside of this 'operation' finds out. If they do_, she thought with a grimace, _I am _so_ dead._

With that out of the way, she could think of some way to confront her aunt if/when she ran into the woman. However, even after two hours of nonstop consideration, Raven came up empty-handed. She figured that no matter what she said to her, she was pretty much screwed. Apologizing? No way in hell; she refused to admit false guilt over something that was never her fault in the first place. Lashing out? Not if she wanted to die prematurely; the woman packed one heck of a punch. Conversing with her in a civil manner? Impossible; even the mere thought of her made Raven's stomach clench in disgust. Coming to an understanding with her was impossible, as was avoiding her altogether. With no more options and no more time, Raven found herself pulling into the station at Dublith in sooner time than expected.

_First things first_, she thought as she stepped off the train, find _the bar, then someplace to stay that's not too far._

With that in mind, she glanced down at the folder in her hands and searched for the right address. Given the size of the town, it wasn't too difficult to locate the Devil's Nest situated between a run-down convenience store and an apartment complex that had definitely seen better days. The bar itself was a musty-looking dump on the outside, but she expected the inside was slightly better than its exterior. There were no windows so she couldn't sneak a quick look inside, and judging by the crowd entering and exiting the place, she could see why the military was suspicious. When people began to grow wary of the watchful girl hovering outside the doorway, Raven made herself scarce and set out in search of a hotel.

Finding a small bed and breakfast a few blocks down the street, Raven quickly made the necessary arrangements for her stay. Feeling exhausted from a mixture of the monotonous train ride and the events of the past few days, Raven ate a short meal then spent the rest of the day in her room sleeping and going over her plan of action.

The next few days would be composed of the tedious task of recon, asking around if anyone knew any specific information about the group at the Devil's Nest. She couldn't gather much intel on them, but from what she came to understand, they only showed themselves at night and their leader was rarely ever seen if spotted at all. Luck was surprisingly on her side as she had gone for four days without running into her aunt, but of course, it all came crashing down around her when her personally dubbed 'bad luck charm' arrived.

About three days into her operation, Raven began making arrangements for when she was to confront the group head-on. She had quickly learned after day one that the locals were wary to speak to a suspicious-looking girl with two prosthetic limbs, so she reverted back to her old dressing patterns. This composed of a long-sleeved black jacket, an off-white short sleeve button-up cotton shirt, crimson tie, pleated white skirt with black lining, and black boots. She was considering stealing Edward's idea of concealing his automail with gloves, but figured it was the least of her worries.

After yet another day of getting virtually nowhere, Raven was carelessly wandering the unfamiliar roads looking for something to do when she saw them. Standing outside a butcher shop by its open window were none other than the Elric brothers, and by their side was a stocky-built man with tanned skin, short black hair and dark brown eyes. Freezing mid-step, Raven stared with wide eyes as the man turned away from whoever he was talking to through the window, and caught sight of her. Though she had been ten when she had last seen him, she still recognized the face of Sig Curtis. He stared back at her with unreadable eyes, and Raven had to think to remember how to breathe properly.

Noticing Sig's distraction, the brothers looked over their shoulders to see the girl still standing rooted in place, unmoving. Blinking in surprised confusion, Ed called, "Raven?"

Having a better sense of understanding than his brother, Al chimed in as he glanced from Sig to Raven, "Do you two know each other?"

Just as she recalled how to inhale and exhale, the shop's front door burst open, slamming into Al and knocking him aside. In the same instant, a foot shot out of the doorway and landed a solid kick to Ed's stomach. He was sent flying down the front walkway, across the street through traffic, and crashed into the building opposite the meat store. As he lay crumpled in a twitching ball, a figure emerged from within the shop and out into the light of day. She was a tall woman in her mid-thirties, with a well-toned figure, fair skin, and long black hair in microbraid dreadlocks pulled away from her face. A Flamel tattoo was inked in dark blue on the left side of her collarbone, her own design of a personal crest.

Her dark eyes were fixed with pure terrifying malice as they stared crazily down at Ed as he heaved himself to his feet and began half-dragging himself back over to her. Collapsing in a heap at her feet, he buried his face in the pave, not daring to meet her gaze. "Hello, my stupid pupil," she snapped at him. "I hear you've become one of the military's dogs!"

Al moved to help his brother to his feet, but the woman turned her baleful gaze on him, seeming to take no notice of the still girl standing outside their gate. "T-teacher!" he stuttered. "You see- it's because- um-" sweat was practically pouring off of him.

Loosing her ferocious expression, the woman's face turned softer, almost kinder. "Al?" she breathed, breaking out in a small smile. "Look at you! You've gotten so big!" she marveled.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Al walked over to her and extended his hand. "Teacher! It's really good to see-" he abruptly broke off as the woman grabbed a hold of his wrist and flipped him through the air above her where he landed with a dull thud on his back.

Folder her arms over her chest, the woman commented, "Your skills are rusty." Shaking her head in disappointment, she finally glanced to the side to see Raven begin to unhinge her muscles. As if looking into a mirror, both of their faces turned into deep scowls.

"Izumi," Raven greeted through her teeth, her fists clenching and unclenching unconsciously.

Sneering at her, Izumi replied, "Well now, if it isn't the little Guardel brat. It's been what, five years?"

"I'd hoped you were dead," Raven muttered under her breath, glaring off to the side.

"What did you say?" Izumi spat as she stomped over to where the girl was standing. "Care to repeat that?" she hissed in Raven's ear.

Grimacing at the close proximity, Raven began softly, "I said I HOPED YOU WERE DEAD!" she yelled back in the woman's face.

Frowning deeply at the girl now quivering with barely contained rage, Izumi grabbed a handful of Raven's shirt and dragged her over to where her husband, Sig, was standing beside Ed and Al who were still on the ground.

Seemingly oblivious to the standoff between the two girls, Al noted as his brother rose to his feet, "You've got lots of energy for someone who's not feeling well."

A vein in her forehead seemed to pulse with fury as Izumi shrieked, "Not feeling well? What are you talking about?" she demanded, shaking Raven as she continued to thrash about. "I am perfectly-" she was cut short as crimson blood poured out of her mouth and formed a pool at her feet. The Elrics cried out in terror at the sight, but Sig calmly laid a gentle hand on his wife's shoulder, telling her lovingly not to exert herself.

Shaking herself free of Izumi's grasp, Raven smirked with an uncharacteristically cocky expression on her face. "You're still hacking up blood? Heh, it must run in the family," she rolled her eyes.

Staring in confusion at first Izumi then Raven, Ed questioned, "Run in the family? Wait, do you mean…?"

Nodding grimly, Raven retorted, "Unfortunately, yes. Guys, meet Izumi Curtis," her teeth ground together, "my aunt."

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><p>After the not-so-friendly reunion, Sig kindly invited the three alchemists inside to talk around the kitchen table. While Raven sulked in a corner, not bothering to join in on the conversation, Ed and Al questioned Izumi on her knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone. Though she herself knew little about it, she told them that a brilliant alchemist by the name of Hohenheim was researching the subject. A begrudging Edward informed them that the man, Van Hohenheim was in fact his father- the same father that had run out on them when he and Al were just kids.<p>

"It's all because of that bastard that our mother's dead," Ed spat contemptuously. "And if it wasn't for him…"

_You wouldn't have performed human transmutation and you'd still have an arm and a leg and your brother wouldn't be trapped in a suit of armor_, Raven finished for him. She knew all too well about blaming others for where she ended up, but in the end, she knew that she could only blame herself. When she was younger, it was easier to pin the blame on someone she hated; her parents, Slicer and his brother, her aunt… they all had done some bad by her, but in essence it was her choice to go through with the process. Ed probably wouldn't come to this conclusion anytime soon, but if he wanted to point fingers at someone other than himself, Raven saw no need to rain on his parade.

Frowning at Ed as he lapsed into a half-depressed half-loathing state, Izumi rose from her chair and punched him roughly on the side of the head, putting her hands on her hips. "Now we're going to eat," she stated firmly. "You," she directed her attention to the moody girl leaning against the countertop, "are not welcome here. Get out of my house," she ordered.

"Pfft," Raven scoffed. "Whatever. I hate your guts anyway," she added as she peeled herself away from the kitchen and crossed the room to the door.

"Raven, please," Sig began, but was silenced by a sharp glare from Izumi.

"Come on," Ed drawled. "Can't you two make up or something? Rae, you're always going on about how family's important, right?" he asked rhetorically.

Narrowing her eyes at him over her shoulder, Raven replied coldly, "My family's dead. That woman over there is just my mom's sister; she means nothing to me. She can drop dead for all I care-" the words died in her mouth as Izumi helped her out the door with a solid kick at her back. Tumbling out the door, Raven landed on her knees just outside the storefront.

Izumi hovered in the threshold, glaring pointedly at her niece with a feral expression. "The same goes for you, you mangy mutt," she remarked.

"Screw you!" Raven spat as she picked herself up and stomped down the rest of the walkway.

A frying pan whizzed past her head followed by a threatening shout, "Come back tomorrow evening and we'll talk, pint-sized idiot!" Izumi called.

It took all her willpower to suppress her urge to run back up the drive and smash her aunt's face with the discarded frying pan, but somehow Raven managed. After quickly making a plan to meet the brothers at her hotel once they finished business with their old teacher, the alchemist sulkily left. Muttering a steady stream of foul curses under her breath, she tried to make her way back to her hotel through her rage-induced red eyesight. After stumbling half-deliriously through the entrance, she managed to make her way to her room, somehow able to turn the key and unlock the door with hands trembling from a wary rage.

To calm her unhinged nerves, she spent half an hour standing under the blistering water of her shower as she felt the knots in her shoulders loosen. Part of her had expected the confrontation- Ed had been right, her karma was completely out of sync- but that did nothing to lessen her emotional turmoil. Just when she thought she was home free, her bad luck charm showed up along with her infuriating aunt. As if she didn't have enough on her mind worrying about dying, now she was stuck babysitting the Elrics again as well as facing her dreaded aunt. Raven sighed, exasperated and overwhelmed by her own thoughts as she stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a soft towel. _What's next? The world goes to pot and expects me to save it_?

"Figures," she muttered to herself, rolling her eyes.


	13. Shattered Ones

**Disclaimer: Arakawa has the privilage to call FMA ownership, not me.**

**Chipmunkgirl234: Just had to throw that tidbit in there! Sorry for the late update!**

**What the fuck is thiS: What an estute observation you made. Now please direct your comment to someone who gives a crap ^.^**

**FullMetal: Rae does not know about Izumi's transmutation, but still hates her anyway just 'cause she partially blames Izumi for the way her life turned out.**

**KarmaHope: I enjoyed writing Izumi's reaction to Rae- they will have more scenes like it to come!**

**Seize the Rain: Lolz, writing my previous author's note confused even me. Don't feel bad!**

**Pyon-chan: We are all crazy inside, some of us just embrace it more than others! I didn't realize how much people liked Rae and Izumi's little moment- lol!**

**Fawndapple: I hope you had a good time in the Sierra Nevadas! Sounds cool! Don't feel bad about not reviewing! I feel bad for not updating sooner.**

**On that note, here is my super-late update of Crash and Break! P.S., for those of you who haven't figured it out, I got the name of this and some of the dialogue from the song Savior by Skillet. There's your fun fact for the day!**

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><p>Raven was seriously debating whether or not to accept Izumi's offer and meet her the next day when her door creaked open. A blonde head poked around the corner hesitantly. "Rae? You in here?" he called lazily. His golden eyes swept across the room boredly until they came to land on the girl who had just stepped out of the bathroom.<p>

In faster time than she thought possible, his face was the same shade as his coat. Leaping back several feet, he slammed the door shut with a resounding bang. "Sorry!" he shouted through the wood, his voice about three octaves higher.

"Have you ever heard of this new thing called knocking?" Raven fumed, her face just as red with embarrassment and annoyance.

"I'm sorry!" Ed repeated in the same tone.

Grumbling to herself, Raven quickly dressed in her earlier attire, drawing her hair up in a lazy, messy bun. Once she had simmered down a bit, she opened the door to her room again. Alphonse sat cross-legged just outside, waiting patiently while his brother paced up and down the hall, his arms crossed and face still slightly pink. Smiling at the discomfort she had caused him, she retorted, "Congratulations. You have officially proved yourself a perv, Elric."

Catching sight of her, the alchemist flinched slightly at her barely contained outburst. His mouth moved to utter an apology, but no sound came out. Her expression advised him that silence was the better option.

"Oh well," she sighed tiredly. "It doesn't come as a surprise to me at least. Come on boys," she ordered, making her way down the hall. "Walk with me; talk with me."

Rising to his feet, Al hurriedly moved after her, his brother trailing silently behind. "Sure, but where are we going?"

"Unlike you two, I didn't get to eat," she reminded him as she led the pair to the small private restaurant within the hotel. She selected a table in a secluded corner where they could talk in private, the brothers seating themselves across from her. "So tell me, how exactly do you know Izumi?" she questioned, her throat constricting on her aunt's name.

Al carefully replied, "She was our old alchemy teacher back when Brother and I were young. She taught us almost everything we know."

Shrugging indifferently, Raven huffed, "You don't need to go into the whole story; I don't much care about her anyway. On another note, what have you been up to since I left? Where's Winry? I thought she'd be with you."

"Well..." And with that single word began a long explanation recounting the past few days of their lives. Just after Raven had left, the Fuher himself had visited Edward in the hospital, issuing an ominous warning not to investigate the Philosopher's Stone any further. Winry, they explained, was in Rush Valley studying automail engineering after trying- and failing- to be apprenticed by one of the 'old masters'. In the short amount of time the three had split up, the brothers had some crazy adventures. _That's double trouble for ya_, Raven mentally rolled her eyes.

"Sounds like you two've been busy these past few days," she noted through a mouthful of pasta as they finished their unnecessarily descriptive tale of Winry assisting in the delivery of a baby while in Rush Valley.

Nodding, Al responded, "And what about you? How's the mission going?"

"Great. Until you guys showed up," she replied in a neutral tone, taking a long, deliberate drink of her coffee. "Now I have you and Izumi to deal with on top of everything. Life's just dandy," she clenched her jaw.

Scratching the back of his head at the awkward silence, Ed spoke up for the first time since barging into her room. "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but maybe you should reconcile with her or something. I'm just saying, if it turns out that we can't get our bodies back, if you can't retrieve the rest of your soul... do you really want to die with bad blood between you and the only family you have left?"

Frowning slightly, Raven gnawed on her fork nervously as she did when she was deep in thought. "What you're saying makes sense... but I can't. I wouldn't even know where to start, and you know how annoyingly stubborn Izumi is. Why do you think her head-buts hurt so much; her skull's so thick nothing can penetrate it, not even words."

"Gee, why does that sound familiar?" Ed remarked sarcastically.

Setting her fork on her now-empty plate, Raven glared across the table at the Fullmetal Alchemist, trying to see if she could burn a hole in his face with her eyes. "Do not compare me to her. We are _nothing_ alike," she hissed through clenched teeth.

Fidgeting under her piercing gaze, Ed stuttered a nervous, "S-sure. Right."

Wiping her mouth with her napkin, Raven rose from her chair, not meeting either of the boys' eyes. "If you don't have anyplace to stay, you're welcome to stay here; I'm sure they have a room open."

"That sounds alright," Alphonse agreed, figuring it best to not argue with anything the girl said while she was in this state of mind.

Following her out of the dining hall, the brothers glanced about the hotel, taking in its subtle luxuriousness. The decor and furnishings hinted at expensive, possibly imported origins, and the staff members seemed as polished as the white marble floors. _More like they have poles up their asses_, Raven thought crossly. Her sour mood was obviously reflected in her thoughts, only pulling her further into petulance.

Ed whistled, impressed. "How'd you afford this? I thought once you were declared dead, they froze your personal account."

Successfully shifting Raven's focus onto relatively safer territory, Al continued off his brother's observation, "That's right; once a State Alchemist is declared MIA or deceased, doesn't the state seize control over their funds?"

Smirking lightly, Raven held up her index finger. "It's all about who you know, boys. Complain to the right people, and you can legally bring a person back from the dead in less than a week." She smiled in memory of badgering Mustang into hurrying up the legal process to retrieve her belongings and money from the state. "Blackmail works well too," she added as an afterthought.

Blinking in surprise, the brothers stared at her incomprehensibly. "Huh?" Al demanded.

"Nothing," Raven recovered quickly.

She nonchalantly busied herself examining the other patrons entering and exiting the hotel while the Elrics requested a room. She didn't know why she was so on edge, fidgeting and trying unsuccessfully to remain still for any duration of time. Though she didn't want to admit it to herself, her aunt put her more ill at ease than she cared to admit; Izumi knew all the right buttons to push in order to get under her niece's skin. Then again, she reminded herself with a faint grin, she herself had a similar effect on her aunt that required minimal effort on Raven's part.

Her smile faltered as her aunt's last words echoed to the front of her mind. _There was no hope avoiding it in the first place_, she begrudgingly thought. _Just like whether I want to or not, I'll be seeing her again. Let's just hope neither of us kills the other anytime soon._

Ed and Al got to Izumi before Raven did, and part of them regretted it. They found out she knew about their current state, Ed's missing limbs and Al being trapped in a suit of armor. She knew they had committed the ultimate sin and performed human transmutation, giving Ed the ability to transmute without a matrix circle. Her reason for knowing was simple: it takes one to know one. She had done the same thing.

"For a while, it seemed we were barren," Izumi began after a reassuring glance from her husband. "We wanted a child but couldn't conceive. When we were finally able to conceive, I ended up falling gravely ill... and our child as well," her expression turned solemn. "He wasn't able to take a living breath in this world.

"And so... I committed the taboo. As a result, I lost some of my inner organs. What an idiot I was," she shook her head mirthlessly. "Now I realize I should have told you sooner," Izumi directed her gloomy eyes towards the brothers, her gaze lingering on Ed's right arm. "It must have been awful."

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Ed forced a smile on his face. "Nah," he half-heartedly reassured her. "I did it to myself, after all. It hasn't been that big a deal, actually."

"Besides," Al chimed in, "now I have this big, long list of things I get to look forward to eating when I have my body back. Right, Brother?" he chirped.

Partaking in his brother's enthusiasm, Ed agreed, "Yeah! It's nothing!" he chuckled once.

Without warning, Izumi rose from her chair and walked over to the pair. She did the last thing either of them expected- especially coming from her- and pulled them into a tight hug. "You idiots," she murmured in their ears, the deadpan tone suddenly disappearing from her tone. "It's okay to hurt."

"Is that why you insist on reopening old wounds?"

Izumi abruptly broke away from the Elrics to see Raven leaning in the doorway, her expression stormy and eyes brimmed with fury. Even from a distance, the sound of her teeth grinding painfully together could be heard in the silence that followed her sudden appearance. Closing her eyes, Raven took a deep breath through her nose, trying to quell the shaking of her clenched fists, and closed her eyes.

"You damned hypocrite," she hissed through her locked jaw. She still refused to open her eyes, unable to stand the sight of her aunt. "I'm done with you people," she spat, turning on her heel and storming out the door. It slammed shut with a deafening bang followed by a slight cracking noise as the wood splintered under the girl's wrath.

Wincing at the harsh sound, Edward stared at his old teacher, trying to comprehend the situation. "You never told her?" he deduced.

Nodding once stiffly, Izumi met his golden orbs with her dark ones, looking black to match her mood. "I know what you're going to say, but you need to at least let me explain why." He hesitantly agreed.

"Even before her family died, I worried about the path she would take. Her mind was a delicate, fragile thing, though she would say differently. I knew she had the guts to attempt human transmutation, and she was naive enough to think she of all people would succeed when all else before her failed. All she lacked was the purpose, the drive to perform it. She had no reason to try when she first learned alchemy, but as you know, that quickly changed.

"The question was brought up if I would raise her as her legal guardian and continue to teach her alchemy. But this was something she had to overcome on her own, she needed to learn firsthand that she had to carve out her own destiny, not be led down the path like a lost dog. I didn't want her to make the same mistake I did, especially when she was so young." Izumi paused, glancing out the kitchen window as late-afternoon sunlight filtered through the glass. "Now that I think about it, I doubt it would have mattered if I had done things differently. She would have gone through with the process regardless of my role in her life. That's just how people like her function."

Al cocked his head to the side questioningly. "People like her?"

Holding up her right hand, Izumi raised three of her fingers. "There are three kinds of people in this world. First," she indicated with her index finger, "there are the blissful ones; they have lived the entirety of their lives in a quiet peace, unknowing of the hardships in life. These people can't comprehend the true meaning of loss, and go about their lives in blissful ignorance.

"Second," she raised her middle finger, "are the burdened ones; we fall under this category. We have seen the harsher side of reality, faced it head-on and are forced to live with the consequences. We are forever burdened with the weight of the world on our shoulders, slowly crushing us and tearing us apart from the inside.

"And then, there are the shattered ones." She indicated finally with her ring finger. "They have been broken beyond repair, unable to ever recover and function properly again. Their hearts have been twisted and bent, leaving them unable to know what it's like to love and be loved, for fear of being cut even deeper than they already are. They will plaster fake smiles on their faces and lie that they are alright; but they can never be alright. Never again. Beginning to sound familiar?" her expression turned grim.

"... Raven..." Ed breathed.

Raven found no words to describe how she felt at that very moment. Angry? Too modest. Pissed off? Still not quite there. Surprised? Was she really? Sure, she had linked a few similarities between that woman- she refused to say or think her name- and the Elrics, but to think that they'd all committed the ultimate taboo? It was nearly inconceivable. The dominating emotion residing within her at the moment was weariness. She felt more tired than ever, her heart feeling heavy, as if she were dragging it along the pavement behind her like a sack of bricks.

_Sure, why not?_ she thought miserably to herself. _I don't even have it in me to be shocked or upset. Am I truly that empty inside?_ At the moment, there was only one thing on her mind that she thought would fill the gap.

Trudging with leaden feet toward the edge of town, she soon found herself staring at the entrance to the Devil's Nest. Somehow, the title seemed appropriate. She figured she may as well make some progress on the mission and investigate the bar- and at the same time maybe she could get some liquid happiness in the form of alcohol. Heck, it worked for her mother, why not her? She figured she had nothing more to loose as she shoved the knotted wooden door open, sending a gust of the chilly night air sweeping through the pub.

Ignoring the burning stares boring into her back, Raven continued walking through the dimly lit bar and plopped down on a bar stool. Slouching in her seat, she propped her elbows on the bar and folded her arms over each other. A gruff-looking man with a scraggly grey beard slowly walked over to her from behind the bar and looked her up and down with narrow eyes. She returned his bland look with one of her own, bad attitude written plainly her face.

"Single malt," she stated lazily.

The man raised a bushy eyebrow. "Sorry, we don't serve alcohol to minors. You're in the wrong place, kid," he replied in a gravely voice.

She smirked in response. "I think you've got worse things going on here to worry about than serving a fifteen year old some booze," she said, her voice dragging in disinterest.

Just when Raven thought the man's eyes couldn't narrow any more, they did. "Single malt, comin' up," he nodded once at her, then pulled out a glass and filled it with golden liquor. As he pushed it toward her, his eyes looked her over once again, trying to reevaluate the teenage girl. "Who are you, kid? You ain't from these parts, I take it," he stated more than asked.

"That's right," she said around the rim of her glass as she held it up to her lips. In one swallow, she downed the entire contents and felt the alcohol move through her system, leaving a trail of fire as it went. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as she wondered how her mother could stand drinking the stuff every day in large quantities.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Who are you?" the man repeated.

Raven set her glass down lightly on the chipped wooden bar. "Do you always take this much interest in your customers?" she asked, her tone slightly mocking.

Glancing at her suspiciously, the man replied, "Just ones like you who shouldn't be here and shouldn't know anything about what goes on," he responded, his hand reaching underneath the bar, blindly searching.

She rolled her eyes. "Please," she huffed. "You don't need the gun; I'm not trying to start something."

He froze, his hand lingering on the butt of the shotgun hidden beneath the bar's surface. Slowly, he drew his hand back up, and leaned forward on the bar. "What's your business here?" he asked, trying to keep his tone nonchalant.

Instinctively, Raven backed a few inches away from him. He was getting too close to her proximity for her taste. "I need a job done. I was told to come to the Devil's Nest, that there was some group that could take care of my little issue."

He raised an eyebrow suspiciously at her. "And what kind of job would a girl your age need done?"

The corner of her mouth twitched up in a smirk. "Let's just say that I'm not your typical customer. Or typical anything for that matter."

"I can see that," he gestured with his eyes to her hands poking out from the sleeve of her black jacket. "A prosthetic arm. White hair. Bad attitude. You're right on one thing, you're no typical fifteen year old, are you?" he shook his head slightly.

She made an impatient noise. "Took you long enough to figure it out," she mumbled. "So, can you help me or not?" she demanded impatiently.

Pausing momentarily, the man folded his arms over his broad chest, deliberating. Raven could practically see the gears revolving around in his head. Finally, he responded, "The man you're looking for is named Greed."

She raised an eyebrow questioningly. "'Greed'?" she repeated.

He nodded. "Lucky for you, he's available right now," he said, lifting up a section of the bar. "Come with me and I'll take you to see him."

Carefully sliding off her stool, Raven ducked behind the bar and followed the man through a set of doors that led to the back. They walked down the hallway in silence, turned a corner, and went through the second door on the left. Raven felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Behind the door was a set of stairs leading down to what she presumed was the basement.

She whistled a long, low note under her breath. "I always thought that bars were small dumps. This place… well, it's still a dump, but it's pretty big," she noted.

"Heh," the man huffed. "What were you expecting? You said so yourself, this isn't a regular bar. And we aren't regular people," he added quietly as they reached the bottom steps.

Narrowing her eyes at his turned back, Raven paused as she stepped into the wide open room. "Just what kind of people are we talking about? Your regular or my regular? 'Cause, they are two very different things, I can tell you that much."

"He means irregular as in, inhuman," a cool voice said.

Raven's eyes flashed to her right to see a man with short, spiky black hair and round, dark sunglasses hovering in the corner, slouched on a plush couch. He was wearing a black skintight shirt with the sleeves cut off, a black sleeveless sweatshirt with a fur-lined hood, and dark pants. As he tilted his sunglasses down to get a better look at her, she noticed that he had a strange tattoo on the back of his left hand. It looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she had seen it before. What she did recognize was the oddly colored purple eyes with a slightly slitted pupil. He begrudgingly reminded her of people she hated; his sunglasses reminded her of Scar, and his eyes looked almost exactly like those of the strange man from the Fifth Laboratory. Either way, one look at this man and Raven knew that she didn't like him.

He grinned at her, flashing a set of white, serrated teeth. "How can I help you, sweetie?"

Raven's eyes narrowed into thin slits. "You can start by not calling me 'sweetie'," she snapped.

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Temper, temper. That's fine with me. I like a woman that'll put up a fight," he grinned.

Scowling in disgust, Raven shot back, "And you are? Besides a creep and a freak show."

Rising from his seat, he casually walked over to her, sizing her up. "You already know this one. I'm Greed the Avaricious. And you?"

"Devin Frea," she lied smoothly, not missing a beat.

Smirking, he circled around her. "So Devin, what can I do for you?" he smiled pleasantly.

She folded her arms over her chest, not liking the feeling of being under his gaze like a bug under a microscope. "I need someone taken out," she stated simply.

He raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever heard of these people called assassins for hire? Why come here? My rates aren't exactly cheap, you know."

"The person I had in mind takes a bit more than a lowly hired assassin to bring down," she retorted.

Greed paused, intrigued. "Alright, I'll bite. Who's the guy?"

A tiny grin twitched at the corner of Raven's mouth. "His name's Bradley. Führer King Bradley."

Silence filled the room. Greed stared at her, trying to determine whether or not she was serious. But her face was as unreadable as stone, eyes hard and unwavering. Suddenly, he burst out in a fit of laughter. "That's a good one kid!" he snickered. "I never would've pegged you as the joking type."

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Raven blatantly stated more than asked, liking being called a kid just about as much as 'sweetie'. Her face was dead serious, her earlier arrogance replaced by an almost businesslike facade.

His chuckling dying down, Greed shook his head at the girl, still smiling. "You've got guts, I'll give you that much. I'd love to know what Bradley did to piss you off enough to want his head," he chided.

Setting her jaw, Raven replied, "You're not getting paid to care, all you have to do is bring me his head on a silver platter. Assuming of course you can," she challenged, taking the initiative.

The smile disappearing from his lips, he lazily put his hands on his hips. "Of course I can. Assuming of course you have the money-" he was abruptly cut off as Raven shoved a thick wad of bills as big as her fist under his nose.

"I think this should compensate nicely, don't you agree?" she smirked in victory. As he reached his hand out to take it from her, she snatched it back, returning it to her pocket shaking her head slightly. "You'll get half now and the other half once you've actually followed through with it. Do we have a deal?"

Greed hesitated, watching the girl through careful eyes. Taking a deep breath, he held up his hands in surrender. "You drive a mean bargain. Looks like I've got no choice," he grinned, extending his hand toward her.

Smirking triumphantly, Raven's metal hand grasped his. "We got a deal?" her tone implied it was more a statement of fact than a question.

Sighing, Greed took hold of her wrist, examining her automail with uninterested eyes. "Sorry to say, but that's not gonna happen."

Before Raven could even react, he flung her backward where she rammed into what felt like a solid wall. She felt it moving behind her as if breathing, and a pair of hard, thick hands gripped her arms and twisted them behind her back. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw it was a man at least two feet taller than her with dark, narrow eyes and thick grey eyebrows to match his hair. His body was covered in hard muscle Raven found as she struggled to free herself, and didn't seem the least bit strained or struggling as she tried to elbow him in the gut.

Turning to glare at Greed with ferocious eyes, she growled, "What the hell's your problem? I'm paying you double what you'd earn in a year and this is my thanks? Do you treat all clients this way or am I just special?" she hissed.

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Greed gazed at her with amused eyes. "I know you're lying to us about something, the question is what that may be. So," he lifted her chin up so they could see eye to eye, "wanna tell me who you really are? Or do I have it pry it from you?" his smirk widened.

"No need," a raspy voice replied. What Raven presumed was a small man made his presence known as he climbed down the wall like a lizard. Raven could only assume he was human since he was humanoid in shape, but his skin was blotched with a sickly green color and a long tail slithered out from his robes. She was studying him so intensely that she was barely aware of the conversation going on around her.

"I recognize her; she was with those Elric brothers yesterday," the lizard-man continued.

Releasing her face from his hand, Greed reevaluated the current situation falling into place. "Ah, I see..." he contemplated her. "So Devin, what to do with you now?"

"Let me go?" she tried.

"I think I have a better idea," he ran his thumb across her lips. "Roa, put her in the other room. We've got some planning to do..."


	14. Logical Insanity

**Disclaimer: Unless my plan to kidnap Ed actually works out this time, for the moment, I do not own FMA.**

**Fullmetal: I enjoy writing moments between Rae and Izumi, but you're right, it is kind of unnatural. I'm still trying to figure out every aspect of their relationship. As for updates, clearly the weekly updating thing's not gonna happen. It didn't work out this time around, and it'll doubtfully work again. I'm thinking more along the lines of one update every two weeks. Sorry about the wait, but school's a bitch XP. This is NOT an EdxOC fanfic. They have more of a bickering sibling relationship than a romance type thing. However, I may make this an OCxOC... just gotta develop his character a bit more...**

**Chipmunkgirl234: Sorry 'bout the cliffhanger! I didn't know where to end the chapter!**

**Seize the Rain: lol, love your Greed obsession! I like Ling a bit better as Greed though, just because I love his voice actor 3 Ha ha, you said deep. Immaturity aside, I'm glad you liked the chapter. Hope you like this one!**

**FullMetalWizardNerd7: Hey! Glad to see you got an account! Again, sorry for the late update!**

**So, as stated above, updates will probably only come once every two weeks now that school's in full swing and making me want to stick my tongue in a light socket. Also stated above, this may turn into a OCxOC, but it is not an EdxOC. Yes, I love the shorty to death, but a friendship between him and Rae seems better to me. Hope y'all don't kill me for this late update! It would totally ruin my day if I died...**

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, Raven had run out of swear words to call herself and curse her captors, but mainly she was mad at herself. <em>What gave me away?<em>she mentally fumed as she repositioned herself to sit more comfortably on the cold concrete flooring. Her hands were chained high above her head, positioned so she couldn't trace a transmutation circle almost as if they knew about her alchemic abilities. She was at least grateful for her jacket and long pants; the air was chilly in the bar's basement.

"Goddammutherfuckensonofa-" she spat.

"Will you give it a rest already?" a female voice huffed irritably. "Seriously, you're what, fifteen? Where'd you learn to cuss like that?"

Glancing up lazily, Raven saw a woman sitting on a crate opposite her- how long she'd been there, Raven wasn't sure. She had boy-short blonde hair and pale green eyes, and a spiral tattoo design crawling from her right shoulder up her neck and to her right cheek. Judging from her muscular body and rugged attire, Raven safely assumed she was ex-military.

Pursing her lips, Raven retorted, "You try having a day like mine- see if you come out sane and without swearing enough to put a sailor to shame."

"Hn," she eyed the girl cautiously. "So who are you anyway?" she questioned.

Raising an eyebrow, Raven responded, "I should ask you the same thing. You're not run-of-the-mill mercenaries, are you?"

Half-smirking, the woman gave Raven an appraising look. "You catch on quick, kid; you're right, we're not your everyday kind of people. As for introductions, I'm Martel, and you are...?" she trailed off.

"I already told you people, my name is Devin Frea," she repeated flatly. Some part of her deep down wished she had chosen a name other than that of her deceased childhood friend, but it was the first name that had come to her mind.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Martel cocked an eyebrow at the girl. "Somehow I doubt you're telling us the truth. What's your real name?"

The corner of her mouth twitched up in a grin. "And I doubt you're telling me the whole truth, so why should I explain myself?" she countered.

"Good point." Martel shrugged casually. "What do you wanna know?"

Narrowing her eyes marginally in suspicion, Raven asked carefully, "You mentioned something earlier about the Elrics; what interest do you have in them?"

"I don't, Greed does. Next question."

Frowning, Raven continued, "What does your boss want to do with them?"

"Greed simply wants to talk with one of them. Simple as that. Next."

"If he just wants to talk to them, why am I chained up like a hostage?"

"Because you're here for an entirely different reason. You came to us, remember? Besides, Dolcetto says you smell like military," she wrinkled her nose.

"Am I supposed to know who this Dolcetto is?" Raven's voice dragged lazily.

"He's employed under Greed like I am," she explained, then paused. "How about I ask the questions now? Alright," she continued without waiting for Raven's response. "What's your name, kid?"

"Which name do you want?" Martel gave her a blank look. "You're going to have to be more specific which name you want to hear; I have more than one."

"How about your birth name?"

"Raven Guardel."

"And why did you come here, Raven?"

"I was told to."

"By who?"

"My superiors."

A look crossed her face that implied Raven's answer somehow pleased her. "So you are military," she confirmed her accomplice's theory. "I'm gonna guess a State Alchemist; it would explain your second name and how a kid so young could be accepted."

Raven cocked her head to the side, studying Martel carefully. "I have one more question." Martel inclined her head to let her know she was listening. "What exactly are you people?"

If her question caught her off guard, Martel didn't show it in the least bit. "You should be able to comprehend it better than most, seeing as you're an alchemist. I'm a human-snake hybrid. A chimera."

Raven blanched. Recalling her previous experience with the unethical topic, she didn't see how what Martel said made sense. Nina and Alexander fused into one being hadn't looked the slightest bit human, yet this woman was exactly that- a woman. There was no visible sign Raven could see that identified her as inhuman, but the young alchemist knew all too well that appearances were deceiving.

Quickly composing her features, Raven blandly stated, "That's not possible. I've seen human chimera experiments, and you look nothing alike."

Shrugging indifferently, Martel shoved her hands in her pants pockets. "Believe it or not, it's your choice. It still doesn't change the fact that it's the truth."

Narrowing her eyes into thin slits, Raven cast a calculative glance at the woman. "How do I know you're not lying?"

Martel glanced up at the moldy ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing imaginable, rocking back on the heels of her thick combat boots. "Simple: what reason do I have to lie to you? What do I have to gain?" She lowered her gaze back down to the befuddled girl chained to the wall. "Does that answer your question?"

She remained silent, not breaking eye contact with the supposed human chimera. It was difficult to detect the honesty in the woman's voice, but her words essentially made sense. What was the point in lying to a teenaged girl? Saving her the benefit of a doubt? _Yeah, as if anyone's concerned with that nowadays. _

Turning on her heel, Martel began making her way out of the musty room, waving a lazy hand in farewell. "If you need something, yell. We're not that uncivilized as you seem to think." Raven swore she could hear the grin in the other woman's voice. With that note of finality, Raven was left alone in the semi-dark room with only her thoughts to console her.

The simple idea of a human chimera was not far-fetched. Tucker had proven that to Raven the first time and she had heard news beforehand of experiments of similar nature. Of course, she hadn't paid the thought much attention at the time, but after what Martel had told her, the gears in Raven's head were grinding together. Maybe over time the design had been perfected, human DNA correctly proportionate to the amount of animal DNA it was fused with. Somehow, it sounded easier than Raven expected the process to actually be.

Or maybe...

A Philosopher's Stone?

Now the concept didn't seem so impossible. After all, a Stone was prophesied to make the impossible possible, so why wouldn't this be accomplished through similar means? Raven's stomach churned. As if the topic of chimeras wasn't upsetting enough, throwing a Philosopher's Stone in the mix was like the ultimate slap in the face. Human experimentation performed using the energy of thousands of sacrificed lived was a thought nothing short of sickening. It was the ultimate sin- just beneath human transmutation.

Her jaw set. Her thoughts just kept jumping from one unpleasant topic to the next. All these years, Izumi had belittled and berated Raven for a deed that she herself had done as well. Why did she hide it from me? That was what bothered her most about the entire situation: her aunt's silence all these years. _What was she hoping to accomplish? If she was just trying to better her image in my eyes, what a fat lot of good that did._

Suppressing another bout of cusses that threatened to pour out of her mouth, Raven rested her head back against the cold and slightly damp cement wall. She stared up at the ceiling, her eyes fixating on one specific crack as she traced and retraced where it began and where it ended, letting her mind go numb. She had no idea how long she sat there following the trail of the chipped roofing until her eyelids became too heavy to keep open. Sleep, however, remained tauntingly just out of reach, yet another thorn in Raven's side. _I just want this day to end…  
><em>  
>At some point, she must have fallen into unconsciousness, because the next thing she knew, a rough and calloused hand was shaking her awake.<p>

"Hey, kid. Time to wake up," an unfamiliar voice chimed.

Blinking her eyes open groggily, Raven muttered something that sounded like 'five more minutes, Al', before nuzzling her face in her shoulder.

The voice let out an impatient sigh. "Kids are such a pain to deal with," it mumbled. A shudder went down her spine as she felt was seemed like someone breathing on the side of her neck, and her eyes fluttered as they struggled to remain open. "Come on kid! You're burning daylight!" the voice shouted at her, shattering her eardrum.

In one swift motion, she moved to fly to her feet, only to be yanked back down to the hard flooring and land roughly on her back. Groaning to herself, images of the past twenty-four hours replayed themselves behind her eyes and she remembered where she was. Sure enough, as she turned her slitted gaze up above her head, her wrists were shackled by a thick chain to the wall. Thankfully- or unthankfully, depending on how one looked at it- her arms had long-since gone numb and did not feel the searing of aching muscles as pain shot up through her spine.

"Whoa, calm down there, kid," the voice which she identified to be a man's backed a ways away from her, holding his hands up in a nonthreatening gesture. His dark eyes probed hers as she locked gazes with him, trying to figure out how to best approach the girl. "You alright?" he asked cautiously.

Blowing a pesky strand of hair out of her face, Raven glared at him, annoyed. "Do I look like I'm alright?" she seethed.

He frowned, running a hand through his messy dark brown hair. "Still in a crap mood, I see," he noted.

Rolling her eyes as she maneuvered herself into a sitting position, Raven grumbled sarcastically, "Did you honestly expect the adolescent girl chained to a wall while some random guy scares the crap out of her to wake her up to be leaping with joy?"

Again the man sighed, obviously exasperated. One of his hands came to lightly rest on the hilt of a katana strapped to his waist, Raven noticed with a hint of alarm. He followed her gaze to the sword at his side, and then glanced back at the girl, his expression unreadable. "It's only for if you don't cooperate. Just play along and there won't be a need for you to even see it." He didn't need to explain what 'it' was.

As he unclasped the shackles at her wrists, Raven took a few deep breaths, calming herself down as a shot of adrenaline pumped through her system. The instant she heard the snap of the latch open, she tore her wrists apart, elbowing the man in the stomach as she shot to her feet. Kicking him in the chest for good measure, she bolted for the door while he was still sprawled out on the floor, not yet fully aware of what was happening. Taking advantage of his confusion, she streaked past him as her mind raced to recall the passage out of the maze of a basement.

Only half attuned to her surroundings, Raven had only made it five steps down the hall before crashing into someone. And that someone just so happened to be Greed. As she rebounded off of him, he caught her by the wrist, peering at her from behind his glasses with bland annoyance.

"Just the one I'm looking for," he mused lightly. "How sweet of you to save me the trouble."

Gritting her teeth, Raven head-butted him as hard as her skull would allow her and hoping for him to release her. Her forehead connected solidly with his nose which began gushing blood almost immediately, his head thrown back from the impact. Her head swam as she saw stars for a few moments before quickly gathering herself and turning her mind back to thoughts of escape. But as she tugged at her arm, trying to wrest it away from the man, she found he still had a solid hold of it and had seemingly no intention of letting go. Even when she landed a solid punch to his shoulder and heard a muffled popping noise of the bone's dislocation, he still did not loosen his grip.

Raven watched with eyes the size of baseballs as Greed slowly tilted his head back toward her, his violet eyes unamused as red sparks flashed around his broken nose. In a matter of seconds, the bleeding had stopped and his nose had returned to its original perfection. Raven's mind was racing. _What the hell…?_

"Why do you look so surprised? By now you must've found out what my subordinates are, is it really so difficult to believe that there's more to something than what you're eyes can see?" He leaned closer to her face, but for once her mind didn't process his too-close-for-comfort proximity. "You're only just beginning to scrape the surface of the thin line between fantasy and reality, girl."

Flinching a bit at the threatening undertone his voice had suddenly taken on, Raven felt about two inches tall under Greed's piercing gaze. "What the hell are you?" she breathed shakily.

Smirking playfully at the girl, Greed calmly responded, "Isn't it obvious? I'm an artificially created human. State Alchemists such as yourself better know something like me as a homunculus."

They just keep coming, Raven half-mused through her muddled thoughts. Another impossible concept staring her right in the face: the fabled homunculus. It was a forbidden act among alchemists to create artificial humans- to essentially be performing human transmutation- and even more, there had not once been a single record of a successful attempt at creating an artificial being. And now one was standing before her, a group of human-chimeras under his control. Still, part of her had no choice but to believe him, his display of self-healing obviously beyond human capabilities.

"Mister Greed!" The man who had abruptly awoken to a crabby escapee burst from the room behind Raven, a hand rubbing his sore chest from where she had kicked him. He opened his mouth to shout an alarm, but upon seeing his boss already in possession of the would-be jumper, closed it and narrowed his eyes marginally at the girl.

"Dolcetto," Greed peered over Raven's shoulder at the man, "I thought you said you could handle her."

Dolcetto rubbed the back of his neck nervously, a bit embarrassed. "She's kind of a handful; had plenty to throw at me after I woke 'er up."

Waving a dismissive hand at the man, Greed said breezily, "No big deal. Now," he turned his attention back to Raven, "for the reason I came in the first place." Raven held her breath, not sure what to expect but going off the little she knew of the man, it was not good. The corner of his mouth twitched up in a grin. "How well do you know Alphonse Elric?"

Blinking once in confusion, Raven regarded Greed through wary eyes. "Well enough. Why?"

Breaking out in a triumphant grin, Greed's eyes seemed to twinkle mischievously. "I need to get his attention somehow. I think you'll be incentive enough."

* * *

><p>"You're sure you don't have a tail?"<p>

"Last time I checked, no."

"Dog ears maybe?"

"Do I look like I have dog ears?"

"When you pass a fire hydrant, do you get a sudden urge to pee on it?"

"Wait, wha- Martel, stop laughing!"

Perched on her usual wooden crate, the snake-woman wobbled unsteadily as another round of laughter seized her. Wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, she chuckled, "I'm sorry, you two are just too much!"

Dolcetto grimaced, obviously unamused by either of the girls. Raven on the other hand, felt a small smirk cross her features at the amount of discomfort she had created for the man. Unnerved by the resonating silence her prison-of-sorts, she had resorted to interrogating the chimeras posted as her guards, taking particular interest in the dog-human chimera, Dolcetto. Amazingly enough and much in contrast to the image she had conjured in her head of the personalities of kidnappers, Martel and Dolcetto seemed more than welcome to answer any questions Raven fired at them. More than anything, she asked them utterly unimportant questions just to get a rise out of the pair more than out of actual interest; she still wanted nothing to do with the horrid art of chimeras.

"I don't have to take this," Dolcetto huffed, folding his arms over his chest and exiling himself to the corner of the room, away from the snickering girls.

Sighing after finally having calmed down a bit, Martel glanced Raven up and down, her gaze lingering on her prosthetic arms. "If you don't mind my asking, how'd that happen?" she nodded at the automail limbs.

The smile dying from her lips, Raven's expression turned solemn, her eyes cloudy. "You ever hear about human transmutation?" Martel shook her head. "It's not necessarily illegal for the most part, but it's the ultimate taboo among all alchemists, State Certified or not. It primarily deals with performing alchemy on people, which doesn't take a genius to realize is highly unethical, not to mention extremely dangerous. Of course though, there are always idiots out there trying to perform the very first successful human transmutation, thinking they stand a chance against something beyond their understanding. And I'm one of those idiots," the corner of Raven's mouth twitched up in a solemn grin.

"But what exactly did you do?" Dolcetto questioned, suddenly taking interest in the conversation.

Shrugging half-heartedly, she replied, "I tried to bring the dead back to life. Cost me an arm and the life of my best friend. Trying to save her, I lost my other arm and came out with nothing. She died and I was two limbs less." Suddenly letting out a short burst of laughter, she mused, "I couldn't even come out of the situation empty-handed. That would imply I actually had hands." She giggled again.

Martel raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Some sense of humor you got there," she noted.

Sighing, Raven leaned back against the stone wall, smiling lightly. "If I don't laugh about it, no one will. Life's depressing enough as it is, I don't need to constantly be moping about it."

The two chimeras shared a knowing glance, some sort of agreement passing between them through mere eye contact. Just as Martel opened her mouth to say more, she was interrupted by an impatient voice yelling for the two of them to hurry up.

"Going somewhere?" Raven asked as the chimera snapped the cuffs back around her wrists. They hadn't seen much point in keeping a teenage girl chained to a wall and Raven didn't see any need to make a move to escape. She still wanted answers from Greed, needed some degree of closure on the unexpected topic of homunculi, and plus, she still had a mission to complete. For the moment, she was content making idle chatter with the surprisingly hospitable mercenaries.

Taking a step back and examining his work, Dolcetto stared down at Raven with reserved eyes, a somewhat business-like look about his features. "You'll see soon enough," he answered cryptically before turning and striding toward the open door. "Don't burn the place down while we're gone," he waved half-heartedly over his shoulder.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Said to the girl with her hands chained to a wall, sitting inside a wet and moldy basement that could not catch fire even if it wanted to," she grumbled. "Of course. Makes perfect sense."

Falling into her comrade's footsteps, Martel grinned and shrugged as if saying 'what're you gonna do?' and soon she too was gone.

As their footsteps faded until the point she could no longer hear them, Raven considered a few things. First, whether or not it was worth it to try and escape. Sure, it would guarantee her life, but she still had questions that could only be answered if she stuck around long enough to ask. Besides, escape plans tended to fall through the cracks for her- earlier in the day and years ago in Lior- and tended to prove virtually pointless. She always ended up right back where she started.

Next was the issue of Greed. A homunculus. A fabled creation. Nothing more than a myth. So the guy had impossibly fast healing abilities, that didn't necessarily make him a homunculus. For all Raven knew, he could be using some form of alchemy. Still, there was something about the man that seemed off; his eyes held a sort of inhuman detachment, as if when he thought of humanity he didn't count himself among its inhabitants. Maybe he just believed himself a god, but that didn't explain how he could heal from his injuries. Either way, Raven doubted he was an artificial human. It was similar in human transmutation to the fact that neither had seen a single success in the area. It simply wasn't possible, end of story.

Then she had Alphonse to think about. Why would Greed care if she knew him or not? What would he stand to gain from the boy? Why would he need her to lure the younger Elric brother to him? Too many questions filled her mind on the topic that she quickly moved on to different thoughts, fighting back a migraine.

That left only one item on her list: Izumi. _She spent all those years calling me a disgrace for what I did, when she even did it herself,_ Raven silently fumed. _Why didn't she ever say anything? Do anything? What was she thinking when she dumped me out into the streets?_

Was she… ashamed?

Raven paused. Though far-fetched as it seemed, the thought had never occurred to her that Izumi had been ashamed of her own actions in performing the disgraceful deed. She may have regarded herself in the same way she did her niece but did a better job hiding it than expected. _Just like me,_Raven thought somewhat grudgingly.

_Maybe she's right though. Maybe it's okay to hurt once in a while. The pain is the only reminder that we're alive. And damn it, I'm not ready to die._

"Not just yet," she breathed.

* * *

><p>It wasn't long until Raven figured out the reasoning behind the mysterious interest Greed held in Alphonse. Barely an hour and a half passed and the bulky suit of armor startled Raven out of a half-asleep daze. He was closely followed by Dolcetto and- if Raven remembered correctly- Roa, with Martel somewhat hilariously tucked away inside Al's armored body. Al himself was more than a little surprised to see Raven in her current position, but didn't have much time to question her about it.<p>

As Greed explained to Alphonse about his subordinates being chimeras, Raven could practically see the waves of doubt radiating off the suit of armor. She could tell his thoughts had jumped to the same conclusion hers had, but she wasn't sure how he would react upon finding out about Greed's origins. In fact, Raven herself was unprepared for Greed's little show of power.

Her mind barely registered Roa as he swung a massive mallet against the side of Greed's head; all that she could process was the blood. Her body went numb as her thoughts flashed back to years ago, the mangled sight on her younger brother coated in red like a blanket. She cringed, diverting her eyes to the corner of the room while her body shivered and her blood ran cold. The sound of his body hitting the floor like a sack of meat did nothing to quell her agitation, and if anything only made her worse. A strangled sort of noise like a choked back sob escaped her lips, and Al tried his best to calm her down, all the while yelling at the cow-man chimera, demanding an explanation.

"You get it yet? Nothing is impossible."

Raven forced herself to look back up out of the corner of her eyes, and gasped at what she saw. Greed was alive, whole, fully intact. The only proof that he had lost half of his head was the ghastly lake of blood at his feet, but she didn't focus her attention for any longer than a fraction of a second on the sight. She only had eyes for the being that should have been dead.

"Let's cut the chit-chat," Greed waved a dismissive hand, oblivious to the stare the girl was giving him. He leaned over Alphonse, examining him with a calculating curiosity that bordered on obsessive. "I'm more interesting in hearing what it's like to have a body that'll never die." He grinned. "An individual soul transmuted and bound to an object? It sounds like it's the perfect recipe for immortality to me." Upon seeing the questioning stares both alchemists were giving him, the man elaborated, "You see, I'm Greed. I want everything you can think of: money and women, power and sex, status and glory. I demand the finer things, and of course," he grinned manically, a possessive gleam in his violet eyes, "eternal life."

"But you're a homunculus," Raven found her voice, though it was barely more than a shaky murmur. "Aren't you already immortal?"

"Well," Greed rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "I guess I was put together a little sturdier than most; I am nearly two hundred years old. But I wouldn't exactly say that I'm immortal." He paused. "So, I spilled my guts all over," he said, possibly proving to have a sicker sense of humor than Raven did concerning her life. "Now it's your turn. How'd you get your body?" he demanded.

Al glanced down at the floor, seeming strangely somber. "I wish I could tell you; that would mean I actually remembered." He lifted his gaze to stare at Greed square in the eye. "But even if I could, I'm not the one who did the transmutation."

Greed shrugged, as if it were of little consequence. "That's not a problem. In that case, I'll just ask the person who did," his grin turned less friendly, more sinister.

"Brother," Al whispered.

* * *

><p>Edward's appearance was expected. Bido was sent to retrieve the blonde alchemist while the remaining party stayed and kept guard over Raven and Alphonse. It didn't take ten minutes for the chimera to return.<p>

The unexpected factor came from the boy who kicked the bruised and barely-conscious chimera through the door, looking more than a little ticked off. His golden orbs swept over the sight of his younger brother and friend-of-sorts, chained up and looking a little worse for wear. "It never really crossed my mind that you could get kidnapped," he directed to the seven-foot-tall suit of armor. "And I can't really picture you letting anyone else come close enough to touching you, let alone getting taken hostage," he noted toward the glowering girl.

Raven opened her mouth to snap something in response, but was cut off by Al's shout of warning. "Brother! This guy's a homunculus!"

Ed stopped dead in his tracks, scrutinizing Greed carefully. "Are you serious?" he breathed, dumbfounded.

"Way to ruin the surprise," Greed mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Ignoring him, Al continued, "We might be able to get some leads from him on how to get our original bodies back!"

Raven widened her eyes marginally. The thought hadn't crossed her mind about Greed holding any answers as to how to retrieve her missing limbs and soul, but now that Alphonse mentioned it, she could see the link. The only possibility of a homunculus existing would be by the use of a Philosopher's Stone, so it was also possible that Greed knew how to acquire one. Maybe he already had one at his disposal. Either way, Raven knew that this may be her only chance to find out.

"If you're so curious, why don't you just ask your partners whatever you wanna know?" Ed interrogated Greed about his interest in bonding souls to armor.

Greed raised an eyebrow. "'Partners'?"

"The rest of the Ouroboros gang from the Fifth Lab," Ed elaborated, pointing to the tattoo inked on the back of Greed's hand. "They had a couple of armor-bonded souls with them as well."

_He means Slicer and his brother_, Raven recalled. _Wait, does he mean those weird people, the man and the woman? _She put two and two together and saw the connection Edward had made. The violet eyes, the Ouroboros tattoos… those people that night were homunculi as well.

Greed seemed surprised. "You don't say? Well, it's kind of a long story, but we don't talk much anymore. Now," he rubbed his hands together in a business-like manner, "I've got a little proposal for you. You guys are pretty desperate to get your bodies back, right?" he safely assumed. "Because I can teach you how to fabricate your own homunculus in no time at all. In return, all I ask is you teach me how to transmute a soul. Classic equivalent exchange." He put his hands on his hips, proud of his little analogy. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Alphonse. "But I still don't understand why you'd ever want your other body back. Seems like you've got one that's perfect already."

Beside her, Al stiffened. "No I don't!" he shot back angrily.

"You're joking, right?" Greed rolled his eyes. "You don't need to eat, you don't need to sleep, you don't even need to use the toilet!" he rattled off. "Sounds pretty great to me!"

"That's enough!" Raven shouted, earning her the piercing stares of every pair of eyes in the room. "Shut your damned mouth already!" she snapped. "You think it seems great? You think it seems perfect? Do you have any idea the hell he's been through to get where he is right now? Do you think that it's a painless process to have your entire being ripped away from you? _YOU HAVE NO FREAKING IDEA!_"

Greed blinked in astonishment at the girl's shattered silence. In truth, Raven hadn't really even expected it from herself. After all, what did she know? She'd only lost her arms, but she supposed she could relate to his pain the same way she had her soul ripped from her. It had been pure agony to have only a sliver taken away, so she could only imagine what Alphonse must have felt to have the entire thing stolen from him.

Seizing some of Raven's outburst of energy, Ed snapped a speech of a refusal toward Greed and his chimeras, shouting at the top of his lungs and making his voice crack once or twice. "In other words, there won't be an exchange. With. You. _SCUM!_"

After a long period of silence, Greed shook his head in awe, clapping at the blonde's dramatic display. Dolcetto sighed, drawing out his katana and advancing on Edward, muttering something about doing things the hard way again. As Edward kicked the dog-chimera out of his way, Greed stepped in front of him, blocking his path to his brother. "Roa, get the armored kid out of here," he ordered. "Guess we'll dismantle him."

"And the girl?" Roa asked as he picked Al up like he weighed nothing and slung him over his shoulder. Another chimera hauled Raven to her feet, tucking her under his arm like a football, awaiting his orders.

Greed peered at her over his shoulder, analyzing his options. Finally he shrugged. "Take her with you and kill her. At this point, she's just collateral damage."

As the cow-chimera and crocodile chimera dodged out of the room, each holding their own prisoner, Raven couldn't slow the furious beating of her heart. She recalled her resolution not much earlier to stay alive as long as she could. _Way to bite me in the ass, Universe._


	15. Playing With Guns

**Disclaimer: Do I look like Arakawa?**

**FullMetalWizardNerd7: School is such a bitch that I didn't get this chapter out until now! Lol, loved your review!**

**KuramaMustangElric: Like FullMetalWizardNerd said, if this was an EdxOC fanfic, it'd be like all the others out there. That's partly why I wanted to do an OCxOC, for the originality of it. However, a LingxOCxGreed story sounds pretty interesting now... MUST START THINKING!**

**Chipmunkgirl234: *Slowly backs away* Rae's not dead! yet...**

**Again, I am so incredibly sorry I got this out this late. It will NEVER happen again. School's just horrid, I had Fall Break and no access to a computer, and then there was a horrible tragedy with one of the kids I go to school with this week... happened just outside the complex I live in. To say these past few weeks have been crazy is a major understatement. Hopefully something like this will never happen again, so I should be doing regular two week updates from now on. Hope I still have followers- if I even have any XP- that won't kill me for this. On a lighter note, continue to review and message! It makes me feel all warm and tingly inside 3**

* * *

><p>"Put me down, goddamn it!" Raven screeched, kicking wildly and thrashing about from where she was tucked in the crook of the chimera's arm. Part of her knew she wasn't doing much physical damage to the man thanks to the crocodile DNA grafted into his blood, but that wasn't really her aim. Her tantrum was clearly causing him to struggle with keeping a firm hold of her, thus slowing him down. As the man strained to carry her while running through the sewer system leading out from the Devil's Nest, Raven knew it was unlikely someone would hear her even if she screamed. Her only option was to fight her way out if she and Alphonse were to escape.<p>

By now Martel and Alphonse had at least a thirty foot lead over the two trailing behind, and were even further fading into the sewer system. "Hurry it up already!" the snake-woman snapped, her voice echoing from within the suit of armor and off the walls.

Making an annoyed, impatient noise under his breath, the chimera shouted back, "Go on ahead! I'll take care of this brat real quick, then catch up with you later!" As he said this, he began to slow his pace to a walk as he further struggled with the frantically squirming girl in his arms.

"Just make it quick!" Martel's voice faded into the distance as she disappeared from sight, taking Alphonse along with her.

Waiting until he was certain they were alone, the man came to a stop with a somewhat impatient, somewhat relieved sigh. "Finally," the chimera huffed, roughly dumping the girl out of his grasp and throwing her against the wall. The back of her head smacked the concrete hard enough to make her sight swim and blur slightly.

She slid to the filthy floor, trying to gain a sense of stability and make the world stop spinning. Her eyes caught a silvery glint as the chimera snapped out the hunting knife strapped to his belt. "This'll be all over quick, kid. You may be a pain in the ass, but I don't have the time to waste you," the man said, as if the thought was supposed to be reassuring.

Gritting her teeth, Raven maneuvered herself to her knees, glaring up at the man through squinted eyes filled with venom. "Don't make the mistake of underestimating me," she warned gravely as he advanced on her, tearing off the sleeve of her jacket as she did so, exposing her steel prosthetic.

Narrowing his dark eyes at her, the chimera hesitated, uncertain of her action and wary of her tone. "Sorry kid, but no one's gonna come crashing in and save the day for you." He lifted the blade with a hunter's precision and grace, ready for the kill.

The corner of Raven's mouth twitched up in a smirk. "Who said I need anyone to save me?"

Her fingers flew with amazing speed as she traced a transmutation circle on the forearm plate of her automail. All of a sudden, a resounding crack reverberated off the walls, making Raven's ears ring as she felt her automail send her backward onto her butt and push her back against the wall. The man let out a yelp of surprise and pain as blood poured out of his shoulder and he stumbled back a few feet from the girl into the murky sewer water.

"What the hell!" the chimera screeched, throwing away his knife and grasping his shoulder with both hands in a feeble attempt to clot the gushing blood. He stared with wide, slightly frantic eyes at the suddenly cocky-looking girl.

"Like I said," she smirked, wiping away a trail of sweat leaking into her deep green eyes. "Don't underestimate me. You thought I was incapable of fighting on my own, and that was your biggest mistake." Her grin widened as she pulled herself to her feet, leaning heavily against the grimy wall. "You see, not only can I fight, but I come fully loaded."

Wincing at his now-throbbing shoulder, he glared daggers at the young alchemist. "But how did you-?" he demanded through clenched teeth. "What the hell did you do to me?"

As if anticipating his question, Raven raised her left arm to eye level, her grin never once faltering. "My automail," she stated simply, "is unique. You can find several compounds of different metals in my arms, but the screws that hold it all together are what top it off. They have specific concentrations of charcoal, potassium nitrate, and a little bit of sulfur. Take a wild guess what those combined elements make up."

His eyes widened in realization as she rattled off the list of elements. It didn't take an alchemist or scientist to put two and two together and come to the same conclusion. "Gunpowder," he murmured.

Faster than the eye could see, the girl traced a transmutation circle on the forearm of her automail, her hand hovering in anticipation directly above it.

"Bingo."

A booming crack echoed as Raven fired another shot at the chimera. He dove out of the way just in time for the 'bullet' to graze his cheek, but miss risking any serious damage. Gritting his teeth, his skin began darkening into a yellowish green shade, seemingly growing large scales as he took on his true chimera appearance. His fingernails sharpened into thick black claws, and his teeth sharpened to dangerous points. His nose elongated to a seemingly impossible length, taking on the form of a snout filled with nasty, gleaming white teeth. His dark eyes paled to a dull gold, the pupil becoming an animalistic slit, filled with ravenous anger. "Try and take a shot at me now, kid!" he challenged, brandishing his clawed hand.

Frowning slightly, Raven leveled and positioned her arm, taking aim once again. "You think that thick skin of yours is gonna do much good? All I have to do is get close enough and you're dead," she shot back threateningly. To prove her point, she sent another screw flying at the chimera, aiming for the point right between his eyes where the scales would be weakest.

Dodging out of the path, the chimera grinned as Raven's automail made a quiet creak and groan of protest. A thought occurred to him. "You can use those screws as bullets, huh?" he mused. "What happens when you run out of screws?"

_I'm screwed_, Raven finished for him, but made a point not to show she had already considered the outcome. There was a reason she rarely used this technique in a fight: first, once she ran out of screws, she was out of bullets and without a weapon. Second, with no screws to hold it altogether, her automail would fall to pieces of worthless scrap metal. She only ever used her automail as a weapon this way when she was out of options or needed to end a battle quickly. Whatever the cost, she had to escape from this alive and locate Alphonse, and then- assuming any of them were still alive- meet back up with Edward. _I need to get this over with already,_she mentally fumed.

"Just stand still, already, would ya!" Raven shouted over the peal of gunshots- or automail-shots- as she fired round after round at the chimera.

As he ducked and stumbled out of the bullets' reach, he scoffed, "Like hell! Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play with guns?" He rushed directly at her, his clawed hands reaching out to her throat.

Panicking, Raven made a move to fire another screw at him, but her fingers shook too much and she could feel his hot breath brush against her face. Just as he was within a foot of her range, he swiped his talons at her throat the same time she commanded her fingers to complete the transmutation circle.

Squeezing her eyes shut in anticipation, she felt the backfire send her reeling backward against the wall. The chimera's claw missed her jugular vein by a hairsbreadth, but found a place in her shoulder to make a shallow scrape. She barely registered this however, as she heard a gurgling noise escape the chimera's mouth and something warm drip on her cheek.

Cracking one eye open, she saw the chimera leaning against the wall she was pressed against, hovering over her with a dazed expression. A stain of dark crimson blossomed out across his broad chest, a few drops spilling out onto Raven's pale face. He glanced down wonderingly at his chest, then back down at the wide-eyed girl. He opened his mouth in question, but no sound came out, only a small stream of blood. His legs gave out then, and he dropped like a weight to the ground with one final, almost pitiful groan, and did not move.

Raven herself was immobilized, her green eyes locked on the sight of the man's body. Half of her couldn't believe what she had just done, while the other half was screaming at her to get up, move, do something. She blinked a few times, trying to remember how her legs functioned, how her muscles moved.

It was not out of remorse or regret that she had gone into shock. He had intended to killer her; it was only an act of self defense. Still, she had never killed someone point-blank before. Some part of her briefly mused that it may not be the last experience she would have in the area.

"Miss Guardel?" a strong voice commanded, sounding strangely comforting to said alchemist. She turned her gaze to the side to see Major Alex Armstrong followed by about a half-dozen other soldiers drawing nearer, seemingly following the tunnel from its entrance through the Devil's Nest. "Are you injured?" the large man asked briskly as they reached her, as if itching to continue moving.

Shaking her head stiffly, Raven forced herself to speak as steadily as possible. "Major, what are you doing here?"

"I will explain later," he half-heartedly responded, his thoughts elsewhere while his blue eyes scanning the sewer tunnel warily. "Where is Alphonse Elric?"

Jerking a thumb to her right and ignoring the grind of protest her automail made in response, Raven pointed down the path the chimera had taken the younger Elric brother, wincing slightly as she jarred her scraped shoulder. "That way. You might want to hurry," she added. "There's more where this came from," she nodded to the limp body of a still-transformed crocodile chimera by her feet.

Nodding, the Major turned to his men. "See to it that Miss Guardel's injuries are taken care of," he ordered, then turned his head back in the direction they had come from. "Shall we continue onward, sir?"

Raven's eyes furrowed in confusion, then shot up as she saw a tall figure calmly stride toward the small group. He had hard, well-toned muscles worn a bit with battle scars covering his arms, and a regal-looking sword with a golden hilt strapped to his waist, several more strapped at the small of his back. His dark hair was combed back out of his chiseled and sharp-featured face. It was a face every Amestrian citizen knew like their own reflection: the face of Fuhrer King Bradley. His single dark eye peered at the scene before him calmly, his other eye hidden behind a black eye patch. Finally, that single dark orb came to rest on a still-gaping Raven, inspecting her swiftly yet meticulously.

Surprisingly, his features softened slightly. "I must apologize for failing to visit you, Miss Guardel. It was only recently you returned to Amestris, but I had hoped to pay you a welcome visit before you resumed your duties as a State Alchemist. I hope you don't think too poorly of me."

Shaking her head quickly- half to clear it, half to reassure him- she responded in somewhat awe, "N-no, sir. Of course not."

Nodding once approvingly, Bradley turned his attention back to the Major, who looked just about as perplexed as Raven did. "I will scout on ahead alone, if you don't mind," he stated, although his tone implied that he would do so even if the Major disagreed.

"Are you certain, sir?" Armstrong questioned, though he knew better than to doubt the Fuhrer.

Walking briskly ahead, Bradley's hand came to rest on the hilt of his sword, looking relax but alert. He called over his shoulder, "I'll be alright, Major Armstrong. I trust you can take care of operations from this point." And with that note of finality, he was swallowed up by the shadows of the sewer system.

Blinking after him, Raven was in a daze as she was assisted to her feet, her arm slung over the shoulder of a soldier. *What's the Fuhrer of Amestris doing in a place like this?* She couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. Certainly the man had better ways to spend his time than chasing chimeras and supposed homunculi through the sewers of Dublith. _And why would he want to visit me? Sure, I've been missing for over two years, but that's nothing special._ She suddenly recalled her earlier discussion with Ed and Al as they recapped their few days before arriving in Dublith. Bradley had met with them to warn them about pursuing knowledge on the Philosopher's Stone. _Maybe he wants to give me the same advice? But why pay a personal visit to tell me something like this when he could send someone, or write a letter, or even a phone call._"What's going on here?" she murmured to herself. The soldier beside her gave her a questioning look, but Raven pretended not to notice, too deep in thought to bother explaining.

Halfway back to the Devil's Nest, Armstrong ordered the group to split up and go back to the bar without him while he explored a secondary route that branched off from the main path. He instructed them to wait for his return at the underground lair once they had gathered any soldiers remaining in the hideout as well as Edward Elric and Izumi Curtis. The soldiers wordlessly agreed, knowing that refusing would mean a speech and shirt-ripping-off from the brawny Major.

The whole time they marched, no one said a word. Not even when the group finally reached the Devil's Nest, or the remaining alive were rounded up, did anyone inform Raven on the current situation. Not even the medic working on patching up her shoulder uttered a single word regarding the militaristic presence in the city, much less why the leader of the nation was seemingly heading the operation personally. Though she inquired about it to the few soldiers nearby, they simply shook their heads or ignored her altogether, only further deepening her puzzlement and skepticism. She had no intention of seeking enlightenment from Edward or Izumi, but the latter still managed to locate her.

As a medic finished bandaging her shoulder up, Raven felt a fist knock against the side of her skull, nearly sending the girl doubling over as stars clouded her vision for the second time that day. Above the pounding in her head, Raven could hear her aunt's brutal tone as she half-shouted, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Straightening up in her seat atop a wooden crate, Raven rubbed her abused head. "I could ask you the same thing. What are you even doing here? And was that really necessary?" she added spitefully.

Folding her arms over her chest, Izumi glared down at her niece. "I came because your imbecile friends can't even sweep the sidewalk without getting into trouble. And of course it was necessary; how else are you going to learn if someone doesn't pummel it through your thick skull?" she stated, as if it were the most blatant of facts.

Narrowing her eyes in annoyance, Raven saw the medic slowly back away from the pair out of the corner of her eye. He along with most others in the room could see the tension visibly building between the two, but tried to give them some small degree of privacy in ignoring them. Raven resisted the urge to roll her eyes, not in the mood for bickering.

By this time, a heavily patched-up Edward had entered the room and cautiously made his way toward the two females, not wanting to involve himself in their dispute if one broke out. His eyes quickly swept over Raven, assessing her condition. "How are you holding up?" he asked, though he himself looked worse than she.

"I'm fine," she responded a bit tightly. "Just worried about Al, that's all." She paused, a thought occurring to her. "What happened to Greed?"

"The coward ran away," Izumi spat, displeased. Her mouth formed a tight line. "How long did these people have you captive?"

Raven shrugged indifferently. "Just two or three days." She frowned. "Speaking of, thanks for noticing I was gone days after the fact," she muttered half-heartedly.

Before Izumi could snap a sarcastic reply, Ed interjected, "We thought you'd left or completed your mission. We didn't think you'd get yourself kidnapped."

"Are you still so sure you can take care of yourself?" Izumi raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Seems to me you could use a little maintenance."

Sighing tiredly, Raven said, "I don't see why you're so concerned about my safety all of a sudden. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" she threw her arms up in exasperation. As she did so, the metal plates of the automail in her right arm made a series of strangle clunking noises before large chunks of metal peeled off. Virtually all that remained of her automail was the basic structure and wiring, everything else had broken off with no screws to hold it together.

The two alchemists before her stared at the girl, who still had her arms held in the same position, scraps of metal strewn about surrounding her. Groaning, Raven hung her head, returning her arms to her sides and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Don't let that detract from what I just said," she grumbled. "And don't worry about me; I'll be alright…"

As soldiers began pouring into the room, shouting something about Al's recovery, Edward's thoughts flashed back to Izumi's earlier words. _They can never be alright. Never again._ Looking down at the scraps of metal surrounding her feet, he thought with a bit of irony that she truly was a shattered one; her arms, much like her life, were breaking apart and tearing at the seams. _She won't save herself in time. Not like this._

Not alone.

* * *

><p>It took several attempts- some a bit unorthodox, but necessary- to rouse Alphonse after the military had found him, but eventually the armored boy came to, only to be greeted by the sight of blood. It coated his insides like a fresh coat of paint, only no matter how hard he tried to convince himself, he knew what the crimson stains were. It seemed no matter where he turned his gaze, the red liquid was present: trailing on the floor in thick, weaving patterns, trickling out from open wounds on both his older brother and his friend, splayed on the walls he rested against in messy splotches. If he'd had a stomach, it would be churning if not in the process of being emptied out onto the floor beside him.<p>

His brother tried for a smile, showing Al that his injuries were nothing serious, that his patched-up side wasn't throbbing with pain. His eyes showed that all he wanted was to get his younger brother and Raven out of the deathtrap, away from the blood and gore.

Raven had to admire Edward's levelness; though she knew he was probably just putting on a show for his younger brother, he gave nothing away. When he spoke words of comfort and offering to Al, his voice didn't waver, didn't hitch, didn't show that he was even aware of the corpses- both human and chimera- laid out in heaps around them.

"Let's go home," Ed gently urged, his golden orbs softening.

It was almost a full minute before Alphonse took in a shaky breath, picking up his head to gaze first at his brother, then Raven. She nodded in encouragement, the corner of her mouth twitching up in an attempt at a reassuring grin.

"Hold it, you three," a steady voice ordered. Heads turned simultaneously as the Fuhrer of Amestris strolled toward them almost leisurely, his hands clasped behind his back. As he neared them, he spoke, "There are a few questions I need to ask you before you can leave."

For reasons unknown to her, Raven felt a chill travel down her spine as he said this. Though there was no obvious threat stated, his tone implied his level of power, that by any means necessary he would get the information he sought. "Have any of you had any previous dealings with a man who referred to himself as 'Greed'?" Bradley continued, pausing to hover a few feet away from where the young alchemists were gathered.

Ed rose to his feet, keeping a straight face while Raven stayed kneeling at Al's side, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Of course not," he replied, not breaking eye contact with the Fuhrer. Turning his piercing gaze on her, Raven gave a slight shake of the head in response.

He continued, "Did you happen to trade any manner of information with him?"

"None at all," again, Edward responded. "And the military wasn't even mentioned, not even once," he added, a bit tiredly.

"That isn't my concern," Bradley said almost immediately. "Let me be more specific. If you arranged a deal to share any knowledge with him, then I'll execute all three of you right now," his voice turned grave and his eye sharpened like the point of a dagger.

Raven felt her heart skip a beat at the man's promise. It was no threat; he had made it plenty clear that he had the authority to handle a situation as he deemed fit, and no one would question him. She swore her heart clenched as another thought occurred to her. _What if he found out I used his name as bait to lure out Greed and the others? I could be tried for treason or even conspiracy against the Fuhrer…_Again began a long string of mental curses aimed at herself. She only hoped her sudden panic did not show on her face.

"I'll ask again," Bradley said. From the corner of her eye, Raven caught the glint of several guns being aimed at both her and Edward, awaiting orders. "Did you share any knowledge that might affect the military?" he asked in the same stony tone.

Glancing about him with slight disinterest, Ed turned his gaze back upon the Fuhrer, his face blank. "No," he repeated. "Can we go now?" he added, a hint of boredom coloring his voice to show how little fear he had despite the abrupt future that faced him.

Bradley retained his stoic composure, as if he had not even heard the young alchemist's comment. "Be sure to take care of your younger brother," he said, clearly in dismissal.

Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, Raven laboriously hauled her sore and stiff body up from the ground. "Yes sir," she responded with a slight nod of her head.

Edward shot her an inquisitive look, unused to seeing her so uncharacteristically formal. Quickly shrugging it off, he moved to give his brother an assist to his feet. Al too seemed out of his usually chipper character, but Ed just assumed that was from the shock of waking up to find yourself covered in blood. He hardly blamed Al; after all, despite his size, he was only fourteen.

As Raven went to give Ed a hand, a soldier's voice stopped her dead in her tracks. "Miss Guardel, we're going to need you to come with us," he took a step toward her, his hand resting on the butt of his firearm.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, she studied the soldier's face carefully. "Is there a problem?" she warily asked.

"There is." From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the Führer as he calmly turned on the heel of his boots and began treading back toward the outside world. "You're wanted for questioning about suspected treason and conspiracy against the Führer of Amestris."


	16. Learning To Speak

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA. Clearly.**

**Shadow'sMelody: A LingxOC _would _be epic. So Ima do it! Or try to... let's see how well I can do this...**

**FullMetalWizardNerd7: Damn Facebook and it's notifications! Sorry for the cliffhanger! New chapter up though- obviously- just hope you like it!**

**KarmaHope: Bradley knows many a things... kinda creepy when you think about it...**

**KarmaMustangElric: Lol, love how your review's your reaction to the story! **

**So, since my reviewers seem to like the idea- as do I- this shall become a LingxOCxGreed story. Should be interesting... hopefully. Especially since I'm introducing him in the next chapter! Yays! It'll be out sooner than this was, since I kinda went overboard and started writing chapter 17 before I finished this one. Also, the avatar/profile pic on my author's page is a picture that I did of Rae, colored and made using . First pic ever using this software, and I just hope that it looks okay and y'all like how Rae looks! Keep up with the splendiferous reviewing and messaging! Yeah, I totally just made up my own word there...**

"I'll ask again, why did you approach the mercenaries hiding out in the Devil's Nest?"

"I already explained this to you; Colonel Roy Mustang sent me on a mission to Dublith to investigate a suspicious group of people making camp at a bar called the Devil's Nest. This was a mission I was assigned to. What about this don't you understand?"

Raven's patience was treading on a very thin line. Needless to say, her aunt and the Elrics were disbelieving of the accusation against her and tried to convince the military otherwise, but it had already been decided. No matter the argument any of them made, no one dared argue against the armed military personnel as Raven was herded off. After the incident at the Devil's Nest, she was forcefully escorted to the military's base of operations, which turned out to be a makeshift camp on the outskirts of Dublith. Tents were set up in neat rows, though from the look of it, none were being used for sleeping arrangements. Obviously the small military unit had no intention of spending more than a day in the meager town, so the space was utilized for official meetings or interrogations. Raven's situation fell under the second category.

She had no idea how word had reached the military's ears, but somehow they knew about her meeting with Greed and the proposal she had offered him. What they didn't seem to know was that it was a false arrangement to begin with, that the girl never had the intention of allowing the group to so much as leave the city of Dublith, much less assassinate the Führer. Obviously, this was a fact the military was not aware of, so she was given the same treatment as any suspect: handcuffed to a chair and faced with hours on end of relentless interrogation. The soldier questioning her introduced himself as Major Charles Eaton, and from that point on, the niceties swiftly ended.

"Watch your attitude," Eaton warned, his temperament clearly just as strained as Raven's. "Don't forget who your superiors are."

Sighing boredly, Raven propped her left elbow on the armrest of her chair, resting her chin on her fist. A look of total disinterest arranged itself on her features, a spark of sarcasm kindling in her jade eyes. "And you clearly forget that I rank as a State Alchemist, which is equivalent to that of a Major. We stand on the same ground in terms of ranking, so you're going to have to come up with something more original to gain the upper hand," her tone dragged.

His mouth formed a tight line in frustration, his brown eyes glaring pointedly at her from across the table stretching between them. To say he was growing tired of the girl's sarcasm was only outweighed by his irritation in her cooperation. True, she answered his questions, but they were not the answers he wanted to hear. Though he found it difficult to believe that a lone teenaged girl was conspiring against the leader of the nation, he had to question the credibility of said young adult. There was no way for him to differentiate when she was speaking the truth or when she was lying through her teeth. Her tone and facial expressions revealed little other than extreme boredom and a clear disrespect toward his authority- the two factors that peeved him the most, and she just happened to carry both traits. Eaton figured it was just his luck to have to deal with the girl.

Truthfully, the whole situation seemed bizarre to Eaton. The chimeras, the general crowd hiding out at the Devil's Nest, the mysterious man pulling the strings who called himself Greed, the appearance of the Fullmetal Alchemist, a housewife- that one _really_astounded him- and now this girl. Even now, she looked out of place with her bloodstained and torn clothing, prosthetic limbs from the elbows down, a streak of white hair, and slouched posture all combined in her small form. Not to mention the fact that she may be charged for conspiracy- as if a hit on the leader of a nation being placed by a teenager was even plausible. It was nothing short of surreal. One thing the Major had learned during his years in the military however told him never to underestimate the capabilities of others. He didn't know this girl from Eve, so who was to say she didn't have the capability to have Fuhrer Bradley assassinated?

"Why did you make arrangements to hire a mercenary to assassinate the Führer?" Eaton persisted, ignoring her earlier remark.

"It's like I already said: Colonel Mustang sent me on this mission to uncover a band of mercenaries hiding out in the Devil's Nest," she stated, as if it were a rehearsed line she'd had to continue repeating like a broken record. "From the intel I gathered, I figured they weren't the type that would kill just anyone. They seemed like professionals, only taking on jobs that were of a higher caliber than that of a petty hit on a small-time business rival. If they would accept a challenge, it would be the assassination of the Führer. He was the only man I could think of that they would be willing to take on as a target. I never actually intended for the arrangement to happen. Hell, I wasn't even planning on allowing them to leave the city! Furrier Bradley's life was never in any actual danger, even for a second."

Raising a quizzical eyebrow, Eaton folded his arms over his chest. "And the Führer's name just happened to be the first and only name you could come up with at the moment?" he asked doubtfully.

Rolling her eyes up to the fabric ceiling, Raven wondered how many times she would have to answer the same questions. "I'll admit, it may not have been the best choice-"

"You think?" the Major interrupted, scoffing.

Narrowing her eyes at him, she continued, "I was given a job with no specifics as to how I would get it done. You have a problem with my methods, please direct your useless questions to someone who gives a crap," she growled.

Across the table, Raven could hear Eaton's teeth grind together. "Why you-" he seethed, unable to grasp a word that would adequately describe his blazing fury.

"Major Eaton," a gravely voice spoke as an officer pushed back the entrance flap of the tent. The soldier poked his head in, his mouth set in a deep frown. "The girl's been cleared; she's free to go."

The Major gaped at the officer disbelievingly. "Are- are you certain, Lieutenant?" he asked carefully, half-hoping it wasn't true so he may finally get the truth, but also eager to get the infuriating girl out of his hair.

His subordinate nodded. "We contacted Mustang in Central and told him about the situation. It's just as the girl told us; she was on a mission he assigned her, not acting on her own behalf," he retold.

"Imagine that," Raven muttered sarcastically. "I actually told the truth. Who would've guessed? I mean, don't I just look the part of a criminal mastermind intent on assassinating the leader of the country?" She plastered a childishly bored look on her face for emphasis.

Eaton gripped the table corner, his knuckles turning white while his face turned red with rage at her total inability to take the situation seriously. "Don't be a smartass!" he snapped. "And you'd better refrain from making those kinds of comments, especially in the presence of military personnel."

Tapping her fingers impatiently against her cheek, Raven retorted, "That's not a very concerning issue to me at the moment. Are you going to let me go or not?" she demanded.

Glancing across at the Lieutenant, Eaton's eyes moaned 'do we really have to?' Giving his superior a nod, the soldier strode across the tent and handed Eaton a small silver key. He cast one last questioning glance at the bound girl before exiting the room, muttering under his breath about damn kids and their childish tempers.

Sighing, Eaton bent over Raven's handcuffed left arm, key in hand. "As much as it pains me to say this," he said as a tiny click snapped at her wrist, "you're free to go."

"Finally," she huffed impatiently, drawing her arm to her chest and pried her unresponsive fingers out of a fist. Raven had had just about enough of indulging an investigation that she knew would go nowhere.

Under normal circumstances, she never would have behaved so disrespectfully toward a superior or those in the military, but Eaton had caught her in a foul mood. She was famished, exhausted, mentally as well as physically fatigued, and now she was fairly positive her right arm was broken. She figured that a wire must have detached from her nerves, because her fingers refused to move upon command. Her wrist and the remains of her arm were functional for the most part- albeit, in seriously rough shape- but her fingers simply did not respond. She would have to find a mechanic quickly before the remains of her automail fell apart completely on her.

"Guardel," Eaton's voice made her pause halfway opening the flapping entrance. Glancing over her shoulder with mild curiosity, she felt her stomach clench a bit uneasily as the Major stared her down with a foreboding expression, his eyes grave. "Keep yourself in check, you hear? There are people out there with far less discipline than me, and they won't hesitate to execute you for your insolence."

Frowning, Raven felt all sarcastic remarks she originally had in mind fade away, replaced with wariness. "As much as I appreciate the gesture-"

Shaking his head, he interrupted, "Don't mistake my words for apathy; I'm warning you to stay out of this business."

Finally intrigued, Raven turned around to face him, her hand still holding the entryway open if she needed to make a quick getaway. "What do you mean by 'business'?" she asked cautiously.

Leveling his stony gaze with her suspicious eyes, Eaton responded, "This comes directly from the Führer: do not continue investigating the Philosopher's Stone."

Her eyes widened marginally. So the military knew about her involvement in the search for the Stone? It amazed her, the wealth of information the military held on Amestrian citizens and their quarrels in life. It would undoubtedly be best to heed the Major's words- especially considering the sacrifice necessary to create a Stone- but she knew before he'd finished his statement that she would not oblige. She felt far too close to uncovering the truth she sought to give up her search now. Even if it meant defying the military, she was determined to learn the secret of the Philosopher's Stone. Her life depended on her task- she wasn't about to die quietly just because a man with a mustache told her to.

However, she couldn't help but think that though she'd gotten off unscathed from this situation, who was to say she'd be as lucky the next time? _And knowing my luck, there's bound to be a next time,_she sighed internally.

"I'll keep that in mind," she replied dryly, pushing back the opening flap and stepping out into the chilly late afternoon light. She didn't look back to see the Major's expression, but felt his eyes searing into the back of her skull from the tent's entrance. She quickened her pace ever so slightly.

_What was the military even doing here in Dublith in the first place?_ she wondered. _And how did they know I was looking for the Stone?_That one frightened her slightly. How far could the military extend its reach into her life? Had someone outright told them? She didn't want to think one of her comrades would go spilling her secrets to the senior staff, but she couldn't rule it out as a possibility. She tried to imagine Maes Hughes or Riza Hawkeye- two people she deeply respected and trusted- ratting her out to the Fuhrer for being interested in the Philosopher's Stone. Though it wasn't an image she wanted to conjure and had a difficult time actually picturing it, the idea itself was not impossible. Raven had to learn not to underestimate the authority of the senior staff.

_Speaking of senior staff_, she grumbled as she brooded, _now I owe Mustang a favor for saving my ass.  
><em>  
>"Fan-tucking-fastic," she muttered.<p>

Hours later that day after a quick meal and rest, Raven hovered outside the fence of the Curtis residence with a warring conscious. She wasn't entirely certain how the outcome of what she was about to do would play out, but Edward's earlier words kept replaying in her mind. _Do you really want to die with bad blood between you and the only family you have left?_

Truthfully, Raven didn't know what to make of the situation- not entirely at least. As annoying as the fact was, Raven agreed that Edward had a point. Izumi and Sig were all that remained of her family, and she didn't want to surrender that just because of a grudge. Then again, like a bad penny, that same grudge was what kept her standing there at the boundary line.

Part of her was scolding for behaving so childishly for not only the relentless resentment, but for pinning the blame of her problems entirely on her aunt. Never once had she paused to consider how Izumi might have felt about taking the young girl in, given the trouble that tended to stir up around her. Raven had never bothered to ask to hear her aunt's thoughts on the topic. She felt incredibly selfish, believing Izumi should have taken her in without ever knowing if the woman even _could_.

And once again, Raven had to consider Izumi's thoughts concerning the strained relationship between the two of them. Did she see Raven as nothing more than a child, always pointing fingers and never taking responsibility for her life? With a sigh, Raven came to the conclusion that this was probably the case, as she certainly did an excellent job of conveying the thought. She supposed she didn't exactly look the part of one who had the entirety of their lives stitched neatly together in a seamless fashion. Her life was patched up hastily, sloppily, and it clearly showed. It didn't take a scientist to see this, and unfortunately for her, Izumi was the next closest thing, being an alchemist and all. It didn't help that Izumi was exceptionally gifted at reading people either.

Staring down at her shoes, Raven chewed the inside of her cheek, deep in thought as she grasped for the right words. She'd had an entire speech prepared for this very occasion, but right when she was confronted with the moment to voice it, her mind drew a blank. Where would she begin? What would she say? Raven felt like banging her forehead against a brick wall.

"Are you going to stand out here all night staring at my house, or actually work up the gall to knock on the door?"

Looking up, Raven was hardly surprised to see her aunt standing with her arms crossed on the other side of the gate, a spatula in hand. Whether she had just come from the kitchen or she was toting it as a possible weapon, Raven wasn't entirely sure. Her face was a mask of impatience mixed with a hint of curiosity as she peered expectantly at her niece through dark, expectant eyes. She raised an eyebrow at Raven, waiting for her response.

Sighing tiredly, Raven pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head a little as she closed her eyes. "I don't even know why I'm here," she admitted. "On the way over, I had planned out everything I was going to say to you, but now..." she shook her head again, letting her arm fall back at her side. "Now, I don't even know where to begin."

Izumi blinked in surprise at how resigned the girl sounded. She could still detect traces of anger directed at her, but it seemed to Izumi that Raven had accepted her actions. True, she didn't fully approve of them, but she accepted it all the same. There was no changing the matter now, no going back and erasing the transmutation, and therefore, Raven seemed to find little point in getting so worked up about the subject.

Smirking a bit, Izumi stepped forward toward the girl, raised her spatula, and smacked Raven none-too-gently right in the middle of her forehead with it.

Recoiling more out of shock than actual pain, Raven stared, dumbfounded as her aunt broke out in a grin. Blinking, she rubbed her forehead where a bright red mark spread in the shape of the cooking utensil's head. Quickly overcoming her initial surprise, Raven snapped, "What the hell? My head can only take so much abuse until you give me brain damage!"

Her expression turning rueful, Izumi countered, "Idiot mutt, you already have brain damage if you call my idiot pupils companions."

"Says the idiot who took on the young idiots as students," Raven pointed out, the corner of her mouth turning up in a smirk. The action surprised her a bit; she couldn't recall the last time she'd ever had such a light conversation with her aunt. After years of torrid bickering, she had to admit this was something she could get used to.

Shrugging a bit, Izumi folded her arms across her chest, somehow satisfied with Raven's response. "We all make mistakes," she stated, more than one meaning clearly coloring her statement.

Shifting nervously from foot to foot, Raven glanced off to the side, not exactly enthusiastic with where the conversation was going. "Are they still here?" she asked in hopes of deterring the conversation, if only for a while longer.

"Edward was in need of repairs, so I sent them back to Rush Valley and told them you would follow shortly. They weren't too happy about leaving you to deal with things alone, but I convinced them it was best to just let you clear the air for yourself." Izumi paused as a thought occurred to her. "Would you come in? There are a few things I want to discuss with you."

Raven blinked in astonishment at her aunt's offer. Just as she was about to ask if Izumi was feeling mentally ill, the woman turned around and went up the walk toward the butcher shop's front, not bothering to wait for Raven's answer. After a few second's hesitation, she let out a sigh and followed her inside.

She was led into the kitchen area and seated at the same table where only two days ago they had spoken to each other for the first time in years. As Izumi took a seat across from her and dropped the spatula next to her- still within reach to use as a weapon, Raven noted- the young alchemist directed her gaze at the knotted wooden surface of the table. Her mind was still drawing a blank as to how to begin voicing her inner thoughts and emotions, and she didn't have a clue where to start. Judging by her aunt's stone silence, the woman had no intention of being the first to speak, despite the fact that she was the one who invited Raven inside in the first place. Raven kept waiting for Izumi to speak, but she only continued to stare at her niece with expectant eyes.

Letting out a defeated sigh, Raven picked at the sleeve of her jacket, still not meeting Izumi's gaze as she said, "I want to say that I'm sorry for behaving the way I have all these years, but I feel like I'd be lying. I think I can understand that you wanted me to think and live for myself and learn the consequences of my actions, but it's not exactly easy for me to forgive you just like that." The more she spoke, the more strength she gained to finally meet Izumi's eyes. Black fixed on green, and Raven felt the words come more naturally. "Regardless of your reasons and justifications, the fact remains that I was abandoned. I don't know if I can ever let that go."

Nodding once, Izumi closed her eyes in contemplation and folded her hands on the table. It was a while before she spoke, "You were already emotionally scarred, and the abandonment you were left feeling didn't help much, I suppose. I left you alone to deal with your grief when it was during that point you actually needed a sense of companionship," she summarized.

Raven's eyebrows furrowed slightly, unsure of where her aunt was going with all of this. "Yes…" she said carefully.

Slowly, Izumi's lids peeled open to stare unblinking into Raven's eyes. "So why did you never ask for it?"

Raven let out a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding, exhaling slowly as it dawned on her where Izumi's train of thought was leading. "I know what you're going to say, that I should have told you how much I was in pain, and maybe then you could have helped me. You had no idea of knowing just how deeply I was hurt, and since I never told you anything, you assumed that I was handling the situation myself." Raven didn't know why, but she felt her throat constrict around the words.

"But you weren't," Izumi finished for her. "You were far from alright, and you're still nowhere near it."

Biting her lower lip, Raven's fist clenched and unclenched repeatedly as she fought to contain her emotions. "No. No, I'm not," she finally admitted, hanging her head.

Smiling sadly, Izumi reached across the table and laid her hand atop her niece's. "Maybe not now," she said softly, her voice urging Raven to meet her gaze. "But you will be."

"How can you know that?" Raven murmured.

Rising to her feet, Izumi walked around the table to where her niece sat, and rested her hand on top of the girl's head. She brought her face eye level with Raven's, all the usual hardness gone from her eyes. The corner of her mouth tugged upward in a half smile. "Because, idiot mutt," she teased, "you're speaking now. It gets easier to admit you don't have your entire life put together, and eventually, you'll find that's not the case anymore. And if you don't…" In a flash, the spatula was in her hand again, hovering menacingly right between Raven's eyes. Izumi's tone became threatening as she warned, "You will need surgery to remove my foot from your ass. Are we clear?" Her tone implied that the subject was closed for debate.

Despite her aunt's threat and uncomfortable proximity, Raven felt a small grin tugging at the corners of her lips. Though her way of conveying her concern was questionable, Raven still felt somewhat reassured that she had people who cared about her- people she hadn't expected to. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I got it."

Sensing her victory over the matter, Izumi smirked as she straightened up and ruffled her niece's hair, knowing the action would annoy her. Her smirk grew wider as she earned herself a glare from the girl, always entertained at getting a rise out of her. "Good. Now go on and get out of here," she nodded toward the door. "Your automail looks it won't hold up for another hour and your wet dog smell is stinking up my house," she added jokingly.

Rolling her eyes, Raven grumbled something about spending time in a butcher shop turning her brain into ground beef, and rose to her feet. "Whatever," she sighed tiredly as she crossed the kitchen to the door, pausing as her hand rested on the brass knob. "Thanks, Izumi," she said softly, surprising her aunt a bit.

Shaking her head a little to clear it, Izumi put her hands on her hips as she followed the girl to the door. "About time I heard those words from you," she teased. "The work of a housewife is always so underappreciated."

"I wonder why," Raven muttered under her breath.

Izumi raised an eyebrow. "What was that?" she demanded.

Smirking, Raven replied with a quick, "Nothing," before crossing the threshold of the door and walking back out into the twilit outside world. She was halfway down the front walk when she heard Izumi call out to her.

"One more piece of advice," Izumi offered, peaking Raven's interest and causing her to pause and turn, waiting for the sagely words. "Find someone to confide in, someone you know you can absolutely trust with your secrets. Who knows?" her aunt's expression turned slightly suggestive, much to Raven's surprise and wariness. "Maybe you'll fall in love."

Choking back a laugh, Raven permitted herself a chuckle as she shoved her hands in her coat pockets. "Yeah, and maybe Ed'll grow an inch or two in the next five years," she retorted.

Shrugging indifferently, Izumi simply said, "You never know. Stranger things have happened."

"Sure," Raven drawled, unconvinced. She pivoted on her heel and continued down the rest of the drive, waving half-heartedly as she left the house behind. "Good luck with your life," she called.

"Good luck with yours," Izumi responded, turning back to the welcoming warmth of her home.

Though neither of them would willingly admit it, one final thought passed between them, going unsaid with words. Their eyes conveyed the message clearly enough.

_I hope I can live long enough to see you again._


	17. New Faces

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA. Probably never will.**

**KarmaHope: Trust me, you're not the first one who's had to look back at their review to understand my response XP. Lol, keep reviewing!**

**KuramaMustangElric: I can only hope that I do a good enough job making this a LingxOC story. Never done this before, but there's a first time for everything!**

**FullMetalWizardNerd7: Thanks! Hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

**Sorry if it came out later than expected. I've been trying to improve my writing style, so let me know if there's anything I need to work on. Keep up the great reviews!**

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><p>As the sleeping town of Dublith flew by her through the train window, Raven felt as if a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. Though she and her aunt were far from close-knit, the tension had somewhat eased between them. At the very least, they understood each other a bit better, but it would take more than one simple chat to eradicate years' worth of bitterness. Still, progress was progress, and Raven was amazed that she'd made any at all.<p>

As the train carried her away from Dublith, she stared out the window as the sun peaked over the horizon. The hilly terrain was bathed in the sun's pure golden light, chasing away the shadows and giving the entire landscape a somewhat radiant look. Just by looking at the welcoming sight, Raven felt the chilling cold drain from her body as if she could feel the warm rays from within the passenger cart. The air inside the train was still a bit frigid from the night; she could nearly feel the arrival of fall approaching Amestris.

She winced slighting as the occasional bump in the tracks prodded her still-tender bruises on her back and shoulders. The entire ordeal in Dublith had left something of an unnerving impact on the girl, as she was given the opportunity to glimpse matters in ways she hadn't imagined before. Like how paranoid the military was becoming that they would believe a single teenaged girl posed a threat to the Führer's safety. Or perhaps it was the idea that more than one person shared the idea of performing human-chimera experiments. Better yet, maybe it was the fact that she had been kidnapped by a homunculus, an artificial human. None of these things were supposed to exist in this line of reality, but for reasons unknown to Raven, they were all very real. Soon, it would be impossible for her to distinguish fantasy from reality, a prospect she wasn't positive she was entirely comfortable with.

Trying to shake off the cold shudders traveling down her spine, Raven quietly slid out of her seat. Not wanting to disturb the other passengers, she carefully tiptoed her way down the aisle toward the car door. Gently tugging it open with barely enough room for he to squeeze through, she slipped out onto the small platform and closed the door softly behind her.

Letting out a soft breath, she inhaled deeply as the crisp scent of morning greeted her. She leaned her forearms against the safety railing connecting the two passenger carts, and watched the sun spill out across the landscape. The effect of its warmth was almost immediate. She felt her chill drifting away, as well as any negative thoughts that were nagging her mind at the moment. For the time being, she concentrated her thoughts on a new prospect.

_A person to confide in_, she considered her aunt's words. She'd already told the Elrics all her dirty little secrets and they'd consoled her, but she had to consider how long it took her to finally break down. It had been a little over two months since she left Lior, and over the course of that time span she slowly let the brothers in. By now, she considered the two of them practically family- a feat she hadn't known was possible.

The two confided in each other and occasionally with Raven, but she could tell the bonds and strength of their brotherhood were so intense that they naturally drifted toward the other, often without realizing it. They imparted their most intimate thoughts with each other and a very selective few others, just as Raven suspected they had always done. From observation alone, she could easily see the brothers had always depended on each other, always had each other's back. Their reliance on each other as a confidant had carried over from their childhood and was still present and still going strong.

_Must be nice, to have someone like that_, Raven thought with a twinge of envy. She didn't try to deny it, she wished she could experience what Al was for Ed or vice versa; she wished she had someone like that in her life. True enough, she could tell the Elrics just about anything by this time, but half of her wanted someone else. Someone... normal.

Though the word was practically synonymous with impossible- and just as meaningful- Raven wanted to glimpse the other side of the spectrum, if only for a fleeting moment. She wanted to have a trivial conversation about minute matters with someone who didn't have automail, wasn't in the military, or an alchemist. Just... an average, everyday human being. Even if it was a bit masochistic in the idea that they had something she probably never would, it was kind of a nice thought nonetheless.

Raven bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing as the rest of Izumi's statement filtered through her mind. _Maybe you'll fall in love_. The idea seemed a tad far-fetched, but once again, maybe the thought wasn't completely horrendous. _Well, one thing's for sure_, she resolved as she watched the sun emerge entirely from behind the grassy hills. _I won't find either of the two if I keep being a downer.  
><em>  
>Off in the distance, she saw the train tracks begin to dip as the locomotive began its gradual descent. It would take about twenty or so minutes for the train to pull in to Rush Valley's station, Raven figured. Heaving a sigh, she forced herself to pull back from the rail and head back to her seat before the conductor made his rounds through the cars. The jovial man had been pleasant enough while passing through, but she knew better than to give train conductors any form of attitude- she experienced their wrath firsthand on her very first assignment as a State Alchemist.<p>

Pulling her jacket tighter around her body to retain as much heat from the sun as possible, Raven reached out to open the cart door when a creaking noise startled her from behind. She heard a single footstep as someone stepped out onto the platform alongside her, followed by a groggy, "Oh. My apologies, I didn't realize someone was out here."

Half-turning, she noted with somewhat surprise that it was a man who didn't look much older than twenty outfitted in the standard blue uniform of an Amestrian military officer. He had neatly trimmed dark brown hair combed out of his face, exposing a pair of startling blue-grey eyes still riddled with sleep. His features were sharp, but it was still plain that he was fairly young for a recruit by military standards. Blinking the remaining sleep from his eyes, he regarded her calmly and coolly, as if he weren't the least bit taken aback by her appearance. She quirked an eyebrow at that; usually the shock of white in her otherwise pitch black hair was enough to get some kind of reaction from people, but he seemed unfazed. Her automail-outfitted arms would have otherwise done the trick if she had not been wearing the shirt Izumi had lent her before her departure; the sleeves, having been made to fit a full-grown adult, were too long and stretched past Raven's fingertips.

Quickly composing herself, she responded, "I was just heading back to my seat." She made quick note of the insignia stitched to the shoulder of his uniform. "No need to apologize, Captain," she reassured.

This time it was he who raised an impressed eyebrow. "For someone so young, you're quite good at recognizing military ranks," he remarked.

Shrugging indifferently, Raven stated simply, "Three stars aligned on the middle of three stripes; even an average citizen would know it represents something of a high-ranking official."

The man nodded in recognition, and Raven could see a slight glimmer in his eyes as she had said the words 'high-ranking'. "You are correct. I am Captain James Nielson of the Sixteenth Division," he introduced.

She was taken aback; not only was he a Captain, but a member of the Sixteenth Division? If she recalled correctly, it took an average of twenty or so years of service to gain entry into any division above the Thirtieth. This man must have either been extremely skilled, extremely rich, or both to already hold his current position.

"May I ask your name?" he interrupted her thoughts. He had a peculiar way of speaking, incredibly formal for someone his age, even when speaking to someone as young as Raven. She figured he must do it to gain the respect of those older and superior to him, since she knew firsthand that younger officials usually weren't taken very seriously by higher ups.

Smiling gently, she answered, "It's Raven. Raven Guardel." She paused momentarily as a sudden thought occurred to her. "Are you returning from somewhere? Were you stationed nearby?"

Shaking his head, Nielson replied, "I was merely conducting an investigation in South City, nothing of much importance. I'm returning to Central City to visit my family for a while before being deployed to Ishval."

"I see," Raven remarked, intrigued by the last bit of his statement. She wasn't aware the military was still sending troops out to Ishval. _Maybe it's a cleanup job_, she wondered, but wasn't about to outright ask the man. "Well, I hope you enjoy your time with your family," she said as she turned back to slip into the passenger car, clearly ready to bid the Captain goodbye.

Nodding absent-mindedly, Nielson turned his gaze upon the sun, most likely hoping to soak in a few rays of sunlight before cramping back into the train. "Also," she added, successfully gaining his attention, "it doesn't hurt to smile once in a while around superior officers. It lets them know you have a sense of humor, something you'll need if you want to keep sane," she smirked.

Raven swore she saw the corner of his mouth twitch upward as he fought a returning grin. "I'll keep that in mind," he mused lightly. "Have a good day, Miss Guardel."

As she nodded in farewell at the young officer, Raven couldn't help but catch one final glimpse of his eyes. It startled her that they almost seemed to mirror her childhood friend's eyes, that she was reminded so strongly of Devin when she first saw those chips of grey. She knew her mind was playing tricks on her though, probably due to a lack of sleep and the overall rough week she'd had. Still, it was difficult to shake the feeling that was almost as if she were once again staring into the eyes of her best friend. Perhaps that was why she revealed so little about herself to the officer and her own rank as a State Alchemist. Or perhaps she didn't want to reveal the information to a perfect stranger. Whatever the case, she was still somewhat brightened by the short encounter with Captain James Nielson- he served as a reminder that she needed to learn to smile more often as well.

Quickly slipping into her seat as the train made headway down into the valley, Raven once again replayed Izumi's words in her mind. _Find a person to confide in. Learn to speak._ She took a deep breath as the locomotive descended deeper into the canyon valley. _The test begins now._

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><p>Trekking down the bustling streets teeming with activity, it took all of Raven's willpower not to begin screaming profanities. As soon as she had stepped off the train, the realization had dawned on her that she had no idea where Ed, Al, or even Winry would be. Whether it was intentional or not, Izumi had failed to mention to Raven how to find either of the Elrics or their mechanic friend. Now she was left wandering through the lanes of Rush Valley, following the crowds of people as they led her deeper and deeper into the canyon-surrounded city. For the first twenty or so minutes it was quite enjoyable to window browse the storefronts, most of which were advertising various automail designs. That quickly changed however, as minutes turned into hours and it was a few minutes past eleven when Raven realized she had made a complete loop around the entire town.<p>

She grumbled incoherently as she was nudged from behind for about the twelfth time. Sure, the citizens of Rush Valley seemed pleasant enough, but they always seemed to be in a hurry to get places, which was bad news for someone as lost as Raven was.

It wasn't long after that she caved in and asked for directions. Hesitantly, she stepped up to an outdoor vender selling an assortment of tools. "Excuse me," she drew the man's eyes away from his inventory to her face. "I'm looking for a girl named Winry Rockbell. Do you know her or where I might find her?"

The vendor rubbed his stubble of a beard in thought, his eyes showing obvious signs of recognition of the name, but unable to recall a face or location to pair it with. "Winry Rockbell…" he said to himself. "The name sounds familiar…"

"I was told she's here learning automail engineering," Raven offered hopefully.

The man broke out in a rueful smile. "Unfortunately, that doesn't narrow down the field much. Lots of people come to Rush Valley for automail engineering. But you know what," his eyes flashed in realization, "I think I remember now. I heard that there's a young girl named Rockbell working as an engineer at Garfiel's. It's just five blocks down that way," he directed as he pointed west, "make a right, and it'll be the six or seventh store on your left."

Raven breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that she wouldn't have to walk too far after her little morning misadventure. "Thanks so much," she said appreciatively.

He waved his hand dismissively as he grinned at her. "No problem. You here for a tune-up?"

Smiling sheepishly, she pulled the sleeve of her jacket up, revealing her worse-for-wear automail arm. "Yeah… I busted it up pretty good," she admitted.

The vender let out a low whistle as he examined her arm, which was little more than a basic foundational structure with exposed wiring. "What'd you do, pick a fight with a crocodile?" he teased.

Raven laughed nervously; he had no idea just how spot-on his statement was. "Something like that," she mumbled lamely, rolling her sleeve back down. "Um, thanks again for the directions," she said as she headed off the designated direction before he began a further inspection of her automail. He seemed nice enough, but she knew if she stayed too long he'd try taking it apart and figuring out the mechanics of it before putting it back together who knew how many hours later.

She quickly found the automail shop just as the vender had instructed, nestled between an antique store and- unsurprisingly- an engineer supply store. _At least she doesn't have to go far to find what she needs_, Raven mused.

The shop was considerably well organized, with the all the heavy equipment tucked away in the corners of the room and workspaces set up carefully throughout. Raven found Winry working studiously at one of the tables, hunched over a piece of machinery as she drilled holes in a sheet of metal. Holding the piece up for inspection, her bright blue eyes scanned the metallic surface for any imperfections as she went back to drilling.

Not exactly sure how to gain the girl's attention, Raven rapped her knuckles on the closest workstation, making a sharp clanging sound as metal tapped against metal. Winry glanced over her shoulder and studied the girl before breaking out in a wide grin. "Raven! It's good to see you!" she beamed as she turned the machine off and set the metal plate off to the side. "Been a while, huh? How are you doing?"

"Hey Winry," Raven greeted, chuckling a bit at the blonde's quick fire mind. "I'm doing alright. How about you?" She glanced around at the shop. "I guess you must be doing pretty well, by the look of it."

Winry smiled brightly like a young child on Christmas. "It's been great! Mr. Garfiel's been really great to me- everyone has. This place really is an automail paradise!" She paused. "Speaking of, Ed told me you would probably need a fix. Still getting into trouble?" she teased.

Raven raised her hands as if to say, _I know, I'm guilty_. "It's hard not to when you're around those two. If we could bottle their knack for finding trouble, we'd have a weapon of mass destruction on our hands," she joked.

"I'm not gonna argue with you there," Winry agreed. "Alright, let's see what we've got here," she said, advancing on Raven as she shrugged off her jacket and rolled up the lengthy sleeve of her shirt. Winry's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she took in the sight of the pitiful remains of her creation. "Wha- what- what- ?" she stuttered, astounded. "What happened?" she demanded, lifting Raven's arm as she scrutinized every inch of its surface.

"Well," Raven scratched the back of her head nonchalantly, "I kinda got into a fight-"

"You don't get this," Winry held up the other girl's arm in demonstration, "from a petty fight. This looks like someone tried to tear it completely apart; it's falling to pieces!" she shrieked.

Raven winced at the girl's rising hysteria. "Okay, so I used my arm for alchemical purposes," she admitted. "I can use it as a gun of sorts and shoot the screws of my arm at targets."

Frowning, Winry cuffed Raven on the back of the head. "You and Ed, you just have to destroy my creations with your stupid alchemy!" she vented. "Tell me you at least realized from the beginning that shooting screws at people would have caused your automail to start falling apart."

"Yes, and I wouldn't have done it if I'd had another option," Raven replied tiredly as she rubbed the back of her head, ready for the scolding to be over with.

The blonde girl's frown deepened as she let go of Raven's arm, crossing her arms over her chest. "So you must have been in a tight spot if you'd resort to loosing function of your arm, right?" Raven nodded hesitantly, seeing where she was going with this, and wasn't liking it. "What exactly are you guys getting yourselves into that results in stuff like this?" she interrogated, gesturing once again to Raven's limp arm.

"I promise, I'll tell you all about it later," Raven swore, wanting to get off the topic as soon as possible before she said something that further incurred Winry's wrath. "Do you know where Ed and Al are? I need to talk to them about something."

Sighing dramatically in defeated, Winry replied, "They went to find something to eat, probably somewhere on Main Street. It's the main road here, you can't miss it. After you're done, I'll get started on your repairs." Raven muttered a quick thanks as she went to duck out of the store. "And Rae," Winry's voice made her pause. "We are not done with our discussion. I'm going to hold you to your promise later."

The corner of Raven's mouth rose in a grin. "And I'll be happy to oblige. See you in a bit!" she called as she made her way back out into the street.

It wasn't difficult to find Main Street, just as Winry had said. It was the same road she had been previously traveling down when she had asked the street vender for directions. However, what she was sure to make the seemingly simple task a lot more complex was the large stretch the road was, with numerous restaurants lining the sides.

Not about to waste more time than necessary in locating the brothers, she automatically drifted to the closest street vender, inquiring if he had seen a seven foot tall suit of armor walking around lately. He tried to deal with her, the information for a closer look at her automail, but a fierce glare abruptly cut the bargain off. He pointed that he had seen an armor-clad boy and a short girl with long blonde hair in a braid- Raven burst out in a fit of laughter at that- heading east down the road.

As she traveled down the lane past building after building, Raven had begun to think that the vender had given her false information when she spotted a familiar blonde head. There, seated at an outdoor cafe table just ahead, were Edward and Alphonse. She was about to call out to the pair when she took a moment to analyze their composure. Ed looked downright frustrated, with his eyebrows furrowed in agitation and mouth mashed into a tight line. Even from a distance, Raven could see his hand clenching and unclenching into a fist at his side underneath the table. Al was more difficult to read, but Raven could still sense an air of tension enveloping the pair. Ed's eyes were hard and chiseled, fixed on the one seated across from him, seemingly the source of his discomposure.

Although he was sitting, he appeared to be rather tall, with long black hair tied in a ponytail behind him with white ribbon, and very dark, very narrow eyes partially obscured behind his long bangs. He had a lean, yet muscular frame, and sharp features that clearly distinguished him as Xingese. His attire only served to prove this, as he wore loose white pants and a dark gold shirt worn open and exposing his muscular torso. A curved sword wrapped in white tape was slung across his back, a feature Raven found slightly odd. He couldn't have been much older than her, yet his face seemed more defined, more mature than expected. Right now, his features were arranged into an almost sly expression, as if he knew he had struck a nerve with Edward but pretended otherwise.

Raven felt her brows furrow. Who exactly was this boy? What had he said to cause the Elrics to appear so wound up? She was almost afraid to ask.

As she stood there outside the steady flow of foot traffic, deliberating whether or not to interrupt the standoff, Alphonse cast his gaze in her direction. Ed seemed to say something to his brother, and when he received no response, glanced up at him. Following Al's line of sight, his golden orbs came to rest on Raven, flashing once quickly in astonishment at her abrupt appearance before returning to their original wary state.

She took a small step backward, clearly not wanting to involve herself in a matter that might incur Ed's fury, when the Xingese boy finally turned his gaze on her as well. His expression brightened, as if her presence somehow lightened the situation- _whatever the situation might be_, Raven added mentally.

"Hey there," he called cheerfully.

Raven blinked, taken aback by his chipper attitude. It looked completely out of place while he was surrounded by a frowning Edward and statuesque Alphonse. "Um, hi?" she said questionably in response, taking a few hesitant steps toward the small gathering. "Can I join you, or should I come back later?" she asked uncertainly, not wanting to intrude.

Ed opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off as the Xingese boy spoke, "Sure, come on and join the party," he said, patting the empty chair at his side.

Rounding the table and pulling up a chair between Alphonse and the new face, Raven cast a furtive glance at Edward. His expression had not changed in the last few moments- if anything it darkened slightly- which caused a slightly unsettling feeling to creep into Raven's bloodstream. She was tempted to press him for exact details, but thought better of it, judging from his wary demeanor that she probably would not like the answer she received.

"How's your arm holding up?" Al attempted to make small talk, hoping to ease some of the leftover tension in the atmosphere.

Shrugging half-heartedly, she held up her recently patched-up right arm. The bandage Winry had wrapped around it was meant to hold what remained of the automail together, but it did little to conceal just how bad the damage was. She felt the Xingese boy's gaze on her as he stared fixated at her prosthetic limbs. To her surprise, he didn't look upon them as if they made her any less human. Quite the contrary, he looked... almost impressed. She filed the thought away for pondering at another time.

"I'm hanging in there, if you can call it that." She paused temporarily to ask a nearby waiter for a cup of coffee. After he left, she turned back to address the brothers. "What about you guys? Off making friends, are we?" she asked lightly.

"I wouldn't exactly say that," Ed responded tightly, his eyes still fixed on the face of the boy across from him. "He was lying unconscious in an alley when Al found him."

Raising a questioning eyebrow at the boy, Raven was more than a little stunned by his statement. "Seriously?" she turned to gape at the boy in question. "You were just passed out in the middle of town like that?" she questioned dubiously.

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, he grinned impishly. "That's right. I'm from the country Xing, across the desert. My name's Ling Yao," he introduced.

"I'm Raven Guardel," she responded automatically, then paused as she studied his face. "Xing is quite a ways away; if you don't mind me asking, why the heck would you travel across an entire desert just to get here?" she inquired curiously.

Propping his elbow up on the table, Ling rested his chin on his fist, gazing at her coolly as he nonchalantly replied, "I came here looking for something. Something important. You may have heard about it, actually." He paused as the waiter returned with Raven's coffee, waiting until the man was out of earshot before casting his gaze back upon her.

Wrapping her functioning fingers around the steaming mug, Raven noted from the corner of her peripheral vision Ed's fist clench into a tight ball. Clearly Ling had already broached him and Al on the topic, and she figured that was the reason for Edward's peeved attitude. She had seen the young alchemist react viciously to minute matters such as petty insults or jokes about his height, but few very few subjects induced _this_kind of response.

Ling's business just happened to be one of those topics. "The Philosopher's Stone."

Her stomach dropped. No wonder Ed and Al seemed so uptight; this was a nigh unmentionable topic with them, one they didn't take lightly, much in contrast to Ling's casual tone. Discussing the issue amongst each other was a rarity between herself and the Elrics- she didn't much enjoy talking about the Stone herself- but to share information with a perfect stranger? Something like that was a nonoccurrence. She wondered just how much about the Philosopher's Stone Ling was actually aware of, if he knew the required sacrifice to produce a Stone. Judging from his airy tone, she assumed not. Despite his cheery visage, she doubted he would retain enthusiasm upon learning the truth about the object he sought.

Whether he knew much valuable information or not, Raven decided it would be safest to try and nudge him away from the topic. "Aren't you a bit old to believe in fairy tales? The Philosopher's Stone is just a myth, nothing more." She closed her eyes as she took a long sip of her beverage, not wanting to meet the boy's eyes until she was sure her true thoughts would not be reflected in her own eyes.

Ling's expression didn't change. "You seem pretty sure of that," he noted pointedly with a smirk. "So you wouldn't happen know anything about how to find it?"

"No, because something like that can't exist," Edward said abruptly as he and his brother rose from their seats. "We can't help you," he added a bit tightly, gesturing for Raven to follow his suit.

She stayed put, however, frozen in a state of confusion and intrigue. Half of her was still confused by the entire ordeal and wanted to stay and ask questions while the other half of her mind was scolding her for not even responding. So far, her curiosity was getting the better of her, much to Edward's obvious frustration. His golden eyes were blazing, urging her to leave with him while her own green ones seemed at a complete loss for words.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the edge's of Ling's lips curl up in a cunning smirk. "You wouldn't be lying to me now, would you?" he asked slyly, snapping his finger.

In the blink of an eye, a pair of dark figures shot into Raven's line of sight, and she swore her heart skipped a beat. Both were hooded and wearing dark combat clothing underneath a layer of padded armor that covered their chests and forearms. They wore red and white masks that were mirror images of each other, each representing half of the yin and yang symbol. Before Raven's heart had time to restart itself, she saw flashes of silver whip out of seemingly thin air. The next fact she was aware of was the tip of a knife poised in front of her face while another was held at Ed's jugular and yet another positioned between an opening in Al's armor.

"So," Ling said casually, "do you have something to tell me?"

Seemingly undisturbed by the turn of recent events, it was Ed who was the first to break the silence, speaking in a calm tone, much in contrast to the knife held at his throat. "Why the interest in the Philosopher's Stone?" he questioned.

Not daring to take her eyes off the sharp tip pointed between her eyes, Raven only barely saw Ling break out in a wide smirk. He paused for what seemed like ages before finally answering, "I want to achieve… immortality."


	18. Too Much To Loose

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA. Yet...**

**yyh-ygo-fma: Hope I don't disappoint and I hope I don't make Ling too OOC. Let me know how I'm doing!**

**FullMetalWizardNerd7: I really need to stop ending my chapters with cliffhangers! Sorry! Here's your update!**

**KarmaHope: Ling and Greed are among my favorite characters in this series, so I can only hope I do them justice in this story. I hope you like it!**

**So obviously this chapter came out late. I had finals/midterms to deal with- all for AP/Honors classes, no less- but now that it's over and I'm on two week break, I'll hopefully have another chapter out next week. No promises though, but I'll try to get it done before I go back. On a lighter note, hope you all had a great holiday, and have a happy new year! See you next year!**

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><p>As rude as the thought was, Raven may have laughed at the Xingese boy's declaration had there not been a knife hovering right between her eyes, mere inches from her face. It was beyond her why someone as young as Ling- despite his misleading height, she figured he could not have been more than a few months older than her- would venture out in search of eternal life. Stranger yet, though she barely knew the boy she had difficulties conjuring a picture in her mind of him living forever. He seemed far too lighthearted- immature even- to take something like the Philosopher's Stone into serious account, to even concern himself with the object's existence. Minutes ago, she might have believed that the most he had to worry about was misplacing his visa, but clearly based on the threatening weapon pointed at her, Ling was full of surprises.<p>

"Alright," he said, his voice colored by a business-like tone. Pulling himself to his feet, Ling put his hands on his hips and grinning with the knowledge that he now held the upper hand. "What do you know?" he demanded for the second time.

Being the first to recover from the initial shock at the turn of events, Ed evenly replied with a sarcastic, "Immortality? Please," he scoffed. "What a bunch of nonsense."

"Not to me, it isn't," Ling responded a bit slyly. It was clear he knew- or at the very least suspected- the three were withholding knowledge from him, but by the faint glimmer in his dark eyes, Raven could see he was unconcerned. She judged simply from the events of the past few seconds that Ling certainly had means of extracting the information he sought. One way or another, he seemed to know he would eventually get what he wanted from them.

Finding her voice and surprising herself with how level she sounded, Raven questioned, "Assuming something like immortality is even possible, why seek it out in the first place? Like I said, you're a bit old to believe in fairy tales, so what's the point in chasing after one?"

Glancing at her from the corner of his narrow eyes, Ling replied with a quiet, "I have my reasons."

Frowning, Ed said irritably, "You can be as vague as you want; it doesn't really matter. In any case, I can't say I care too much for your way of asking questions." In one swift motion, he smacked the masked man's knife away from his throat, and then shoved him backward with his elbow. "Kinda rude, don't ya think?" Ed snapped as he turned to face his opponent head-on. However, he caught a brief glimpse of a dark shadow passing over the sun when the masked man's foot connected with his face, sending him crashing into the dirt.

"Brother!" Al cried voicing both his and Raven's concerns, swinging around and flinging the sword out of his own opponent's grasp.

Through the slanted eye cutouts on his mask, the second man narrowed his eyes warily. "You're going to fight us too?" he assumed in a gravely voice that came as somewhat of a surprise to Raven. His tone implied that he was an older man, and the patch of grey hair poking out from beneath the hood of his uniform only served to solidify Raven's theory. _As if this could possibly get any stranger_, she chided mentally.

Holding up his hands in what was meant to be a peaceful gesture, Al exclaimed, "Hey! Hold on!" But similarly to his brother, in the blink of an eye he was flying from the impact of the old man's roundhouse kick. He crashed in a loud heap beside his brother, looking about as flabbergasted as a suit of metal possibly could.

He wasn't the only one partially frozen in amazement. Raven was staring at the sight of the brothers and the mysterious masked men with her mouth slightly open. She was no stranger to hand-to-hand combat, but never in her life had she seen a fighting style anything like these two were demonstrating. The recent turn of events could prove to be quite problematic for the trio.

Even from a distance, Raven could see the gears turning in Ed's mind as he evaluated the options he had at his disposal. With his automail in its current state, he obviously knew it would be more of a liability than an asset, contrastingly to how he usually played out his fights. That left him with absolutely zero weapons in his arsenal, his reliance falling upon only his wit and physical strength. His opponent on the other hand- the Xingese warrior whose fighting style was unfamiliar and unpredictable- undoubtedly had a vast array of weapons at his disposal, probably stocked with tools neither he nor any of the three of them had never seen the likes of. Based on the little he had witnessed not moments earlier, he assumed his brother's opponent was much the same in terms of fighting capability- another potential problem.

Yet another factor that posed as a possible issue was Ling. Raven evaluated her potential opponent from the sides of her peripheral vision. He seemed a fairly harmless individual if one completely disregarded the sword slung across his back or his obvious muscle. It could only be hoped that the Xingese boy had a sense of dignity in the event a spark of violence was kindled, and he refused to harm a girl. Not that she was overly worried about the possibility of having to resort to fighting him, but she would rather not bother with something that would undoubtedly serve to further damage her automail.

Taking a deep, decisive breath, Ed rose to his feet, Al doing the same. Tilting his head in Raven's direction, Ed said expectantly, "I trust you can hold down the fort for a bit."

She made a noise halfway between an irritated scoff and an amused laugh. "I'd be more concerned about myself if I were you. Just don't destroy the entire town, will ya?" She folded her arms across her chest as she sat back, a smirk playing at the edges of her lips despite her somewhat reproving tone.

That was all the encouragement either of the Elrics needed. In seconds, they were sprinting off in different directions, taking a divide and conquer initiative. The old Xingese man's gaze darted quickly to Ling, obviously awaiting orders. With a barely perceptible nod from the black-haired boy, he and his companion shot off after the brothers like wraiths. That left Raven and the shadowy Ling, left alone with a heavy silence in the air.

* * *

><p>All was quiet for a moment between the two remaining youths as they gazed at each other with curious eyes before they sighed unintentionally in unison. Ling plopped back down in his seat beside Raven in an exasperated heap, propping his elbow up on the table and resting his chin on his fist.<p>

Now that he had a moment alone with her, Ling appraised the girl sitting opposite him through bemused eyes, raising an eyebrow as she resumed sipping her coffee as if the last few seconds had never happened.

In the few short minutes he had observed her, Ling found her incredibly frustrating in the fact that he had difficulties reading her. In the case of most people, he could easily outline their personalities and lifestyles from a few moments of observation, or sometimes even a simple glance. This girl however, proved inconclusive. Her general appearance and behavior did not coincide much- the prosthetic arms should have revealed her to be hard-edged, but her tone of speaking projected the opposite effect. She spoke lightly, almost jokingly even when reminding her friends to leave the city in one piece. So far, not much about her was adding up.

Feeling his heady gaze on her, she lifted her eyes to peer at him over the rim of her porcelain cup. Catching him in his staring, she quirked an eyebrow herself. "Is there something about me that fascinates you to the point of staring?" she asked in that light, slightly teasing voice.

Cocking his head to the side at the sound of her airy, casual tone, Ling scrutinized her face carefully. "Aren't you going to go after them?" he questioned, curious about the girl's actions- or lack thereof.

Shrugging indifferently, Raven sat back in her chair, completely at ease as she closed her eyes and brought her cup to her lips. "It's my day off babysitting," she calmly answered as an explosion sounded not too far off in the distance. If she heard it, she behaved otherwise. "And besides," she added with a slight smirk, "I can take care of myself."

The corner of Ling's mouth tugged upward in a cocky grin. "Is that so?" he mused in contemplation, a challenge hinted in his short statement. With a brief flash of silver, he whipped out the curved sword strapped to his back and swung it through the air next to Raven's ear close enough for her to hear the whoosh of the weapon's trail.

As the sword traveled past her face, her eyes snapped open and glared at him through chiseled, unamused jade eyes. Without the slightest hint of regard for the object, she threw away her cup, shattering it on the ground and sending white shards flying. Paying no heed to the broken china, her metal fingers clamped around the cold steel of the blade. She barely flinched at the sound of the clear and harsh ring as the sharp edge bit into her palm, leaving shallow scratches from the force of impact. Ling had to admit, however short, her display of rapid reflexes and firm resolution was impressive. Especially taking into consideration she only seemed to have a single arm fully functioning on her behalf.

Curious and wary eyes were trained on the pair from seemingly all directions; wanderers in the street, onlookers at the cafe, even the wait staff was watching them with anticipation. Conversations were at a complete standstill as everyone seemed to eavesdrop on the young pair's standoff. Neither of them seemed to notice any of this however, or at least pretended otherwise, too engrossed with the other to pay much attention to their immediate surroundings.

Narrowing her eyes in mistrust, she carefully warned, "Trust me, after the week I've had, you really don't want to test that hypothesis of yours any further."

Ling momentarily hesitated before slowly retracting his sword, and Raven released her grip on the weapon. Setting it aside on the empty chair nearest him, he never took his eyes off Raven for so much as a second. With each passing moment, she continued to further puzzle him. From the little information he could gather from her reactions and body language, she was clearly capable of handling herself, but didn't seem too interested in physically proving it. Though she held a fairly relaxed air about her, she had an impish side to her as well that showed a particular fondness for sarcasm. There was one significant trait he still had yet to identify, one that he was most interested in. _Everyone has something that puts them off their rocker_, Ling reminded himself. _I bet I can find hers_, he challenged himself, an idea already formulating in his mind. _Should be interesting...  
><em>  
>After a few moments of silence, Ling began nonchalantly, "So," he said as he fiddled with the salt shaker, not meeting Raven's eyes. "What's the deal with you and that short one? Ed, right?"<p>

Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion at the seemingly random question, she responded hesitantly, "What do you mean?"

Twisting and untwisting the cap of the shaker, he elaborated, "You kept looking at him, he kept looking at you. He seemed concerned about leaving you here alone with the shady Xingese character," he attempted an imitation the blonde's voice-a quite hilarious failure- at the last part. "Seems to me you two are pretty close," he summarized.

The statement itself was rather nonthreatening, but the implication behind it was enough to make color rush to Raven's cheeks, a factor that immediately caught Ling's attention. "He is not my boyfriend," she carefully annunciated each word through clenched teeth.

Finally casting his eyes up to her face, Ling bit back a full-on grin at her expression. With her flushed face, bright eyes, and stubborn set of her lips, Raven was in downright defensive mode. He'd found leverage over her.

"Do you want him to be?" he pressed, more out of a desire to see her squirm under the pressure of his barrage of questions than actual interest.

Blinking in outrage, Raven stuttered, "N-no! I don't even- I can't even- just- no!" she fumbled over words, causing her face to darken into a brighter shade of red. "He's like a brother to me! I'd never-"

"But even siblings can have feelings for one another," Ling interjected. "The forbidden love between brother and sister- it's not unheard of."

Mashing her lips together in a tight line, Raven tried again, "He's like an _annoying_brother. One I can't stand but like to keep around for entertainment purposes." She half-choked on her words as she realized the mistake in her last statement.

Ling's lips broke out in a wide grin, having detected her slip up as well. "_Entertainment_purposes, you say," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "There are plenty of ways of achieving entertainment that I can think of that fit under your category," he teased mercilessly, his dark eyes alight with amusement.

Shifting uncomfortably under his probing gaze, Raven hastily rose to her feet, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She knew that saying anything further would only serve to dig herself a deeper hole- if that was even possible. "Look, we should probably make sure the town's still in one piece," she mumbled hurriedly, making a point to look anywhere but at Xingese boy in front of her.

A cocky smirk spread across Ling's lips in mirth at the girl's reaction. Nevertheless, he followed suit, picking up his sword and readjusting it to its original placement and quickly fell into step beside her as she headed toward the source of the earlier explosions. They walked silently side by side, and from the corner of his eye, Ling noted with a small grin that Raven's face was slightly flushed, her cheeks tinted a pale pink. She may have had a hard sarcastic edge to her, but Ling found it rather humorous how easy it was to make her blush if one knew the right buttons to push.

Attempting to restore the conversation to a lighter note, Ling asked, "So, I assume you're an alchemist as well? That's how you must have known about the Philosopher's Stone, am I right?"

Still staring straight ahead, Raven responded, "Well, actually I-" she abruptly broke off as she froze on the spot. One of her hands flew to cover her mouth as the other wrapped around her stomach as if to hold her organs inside.

Pausing mid-stride, Ling turned to face her, his eyebrows drawn together in concern and curiosity. "Hey," he hesitantly called out to her. "Are you alright?"

Her eyes widened, then squeezed shut as a violent fit of coughing overtook her. She let out a strangled choking noise, as if something was clawing its way up her throat. A moment later, Ling saw trails of crimson spilling out between her fingers clamped over her mouth. Lurching to the side and out of the way of oncoming foot traffic, she half-threw herself into a nearby side alley, trying to hold herself on her feet and only barely succeeding. Her legs finally gave out and she fell to her knees, hunching over as blood continued to force its way up her throat.

Numbness was threatening to creep into Ling's bloodstream upon the morbid sight, but he forced himself to move beside her, hoping to at the very least comfort her with his presence. Draping her hair out of her face, he saw her features scrunched in pain, her eyes clenched tightly shut as if she could pretend none of this was happening so long as she could not see it. Slowly and steadily, the hurling of blood and wheezing breaths began to cease as she regained control over herself, though still not daring to open her eyes.

Drawing his eyebrows together in worry, Ling took the initiative of being the first to speak. "Will you be alright? Do you need a doctor?" he asked, somewhat surprised at the levelness of his tone. True, he was no stranger to blood due to his combat training back in Xing, but this girl... nothing had provoked her into coughing and puking up her own blood. Five seconds ago she'd been perfectly content- beet red with embarrassment, but still seemingly normal- and now she appeared to be short on a few pints of blood. The only question left on the boy's mind remained- "What was that all about?"

Inhaling a shaky breath, Raven leaned heavily against Ling's shoulder, grabbing his arm to hold herself steady. He might have looked at her questioningly if she hadn't spent the last few moments choking up her lung. "No doctor," she whispered hoarsely. "I'll be fine. Happens all the time," she said calmly, as if the thought would somehow reassure him.

The action had quite the opposite effect as Ling felt his eyebrows shoot up in astonishment. "Seriously?" he asked dubiously.

Wiping her mouth clean with the sleeve of her shirt, Raven drew back from his arm and smiled weakly at him. Her eyes showed no hint of betrayal that would in any way contradict her earlier statement, but still, Ling found it more than a little difficult to believe this sort of thing happened to her on a regular basis.

Shrugging tiredly and laboriously, Raven struggled to pull herself up from the ground, leaning heavily against the wall forming the alley for support. "Wow," she mumbled, rubbing her forehead with the palm of her hand. "I don't remember it ever being this difficult to get up," she mused, probably in attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

"It's probably the blood loss," Ling deduced, rising to his feet and holding out his hand in offering. She quirked an eyebrow skeptically at the gesture. "You look like you could use an assist," he elaborated. "And what kind of gentleman would I be to leave a damsel in distress alone in this state?" he added jokingly with a slight bow.

Despite her scowling at that last prod, she accepted his hand and managed to haul herself to her feet- most of the effort in which came from Ling's end. Quickly drawing her hand back the instant she was on her feet, she clasped her hands safely behind her back and leaned back against the cool stone wall for support. With the corner of her mouth twisted up in a half-smirk, she noted, "I'm not sure I'd really call you a gentleman," she chided, "given that you had your buddies threaten us with knives."

Ling's hand flew over his heart, an expression of mock hurt plastered on his face. "You wound me, fair maiden!" he blubbered dramatically.

The scowl returned to her features once again. "I'm not some delicate little maiden or damsel in distress," she said defensively, tilting her chin up stubbornly. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

Holding up his hands in surrender, Ling tried and failed to hide a small grin. "If you say so," he contended, though remained unconvinced.

Raven must have seen the disbelief in his eyes, because her frown deepened and she peeled herself away from her support. Taking a few easy though somewhat tottering steps forward in demonstration, she deliberately glanced at Ling as she stepped back out into the street. "See?" she said pointedly. "Perfectly fine-"

Of course her balance had to fail her at that very moment. As she stumbled over her own feet and began to fall against Ling, she threw her arms out instinctively to catch herself. Knowing the consequences from personal experience of the action- usually a broken bone or dislocated joint- he grabbed her wrists and pulled them back to her body. Bracing himself for impact, he ignored the uncomfortable sword handle jabbing into his back as he landed in a heavy heap with the girl on top of him. They landed halfway out of the alley and into the sidewalk, halting foot traffic instantly from both directions and directing countless questioning stares to the two youths.

Despite the attention they seemed to be attracting to themselves, Ling couldn't help but notice how still Raven was. He was almost convinced she had finally passed out when she lifted her head to glare sharply at him. "You can let go of me now," she grumbled, obviously annoyed.

Blinking in surprise at her abrupt change in tone, Ling quickly released her wrists, not wanting to test her patience. Regardless of how unsteady she might have been from the blood loss, he knew from his earlier test that she would be all too eager to slug him in the jaw. Pulling her arms back, she rolled to the side off his chest onto the pavement beside him. He fought back a smirk when he noticed that once again that pink tint had returned to her cheeks.

Clearing his throat as he rose to his feet, he considered offering his hand to assist her again, but quickly thought better of it. He knew from her expression that she still had to maintain some degree of dignity after loosing a majority of it in the past few minutes.

Raven managed to pull herself to her feet, wincing a bit as she did so. She studiously ignored the burning gazes of passersby as well as avoided all eye contact with Ling as she picked herself up off the ground. When she was certain her legs would not fail her, she began striding purposefully toward the source of yet another explosion, this one larger and louder than the previous ones. Without pausing or slowing her pace, she called out impatiently over her shoulder, "Come on, before your lackeys and my idiots blow up the whole town."

Bewildered at her dramatic personality changes, Ling shook his head a bit. "Strange, this one," he muttered quietly to himself before racing to catch up with the girl.

* * *

><p>It took all of Raven's willpower and self-restraint not to punch something as she stood gaping at the amount of destruction Edward alone had caused. As if dealing with the Xingese boy hadn't flustered her enough, now Ed had to go and completely level an entire warehouse. She found that she couldn't entirely pin the blame on him, however; it was his Xingese opponent- who happened to be a female, by the way- who had set off the bomb causing the building to collapse. Still, she couldn't keep from reprimanding the older brother for damaging his arm. If Winry didn't murder him for ripping off his automail, Raven certainly would just to relieve her mounting stress.<p>

Things only got better when a furious mob of townspeople showed up and demanded that they pay for the damages done to their city as well as a massive restaurant bill- courtesy of Ling. Like typical party guests, however, the Xingese trio bolted from the scene the instant compensation was requested, leaving the three alchemists alone to deal with the crowd. As Al went to work repairing the damaged buildings- Ed could only supervise, as he only had one arm and was unable to transmute- Raven grudgingly wrote out a check to pay for the food expenses, as it was argued that it was only fair for her to contribute something as well. _Even though I'm not the one who caused any of this in the first place,_ she grumbled internally.

Still, fair was fair, and though she refused to admit otherwise, her recent coughing fit had left her a bit tipsy. Somehow she doubted that she'd be able to trace out a transmutation circle through the fog clouding her mind. She was a bit surprised to see Al performing transmutation the same way as his brother and Izumi through a simple hand gesture, but filed the thought away for later pondering.

After Al wrapped up his work and Raven shooed away any remaining annoyed citizens, the three made the trek back to Garfiel's, not anticipating Winry's reaction upon discovery of the condition of Ed's automail. Raven and Al walked ahead with Edward sulking behind them, obviously not looking forward to his meeting with his mechanic. All the while as they walked, Raven thought back to her conversation with Ling. She found it beyond infuriating in the fact that he'd managed to gain the upper hand over her so easily and continue to exploit it almost mercilessly. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was people who could take any sentence and twist it around to suit their needs.

All the way back, no one spoke much, only to assess injuries and a few inquiries about Xingese fighting style. It was all too soon that they finally arrived back at the mechanic shop to find a few surprises awaiting them.

"Hello!" the voice of Ling Yao happily chirped as he sat at the small dining table situated in the housing section of the store, sipping tea as if the events of the afternoon had never occurred. Sitting beside him was a burly yet feminine looking man who Raven presumed to Mr. Garfiel, the owner of the shop, looking completely content. Raven had a feeling that would quickly change. "We meet again!" the Xingese boy piped.

For a brief moment, the room was silent as the three alchemists stared with varying degrees of astonishment at the foreigner. Just as Raven was about to reach over and throw a nearby rolling pin at his head, Ed beat her to it and clubbed Ling over the head with his broken arm with enough force to knock him out of his chair. "What's your sorry butt doing here?" he exclaimed.

Laughing nervously as he pulled himself off the floor, Ling responded, "Now, now; we're all friends here, right?" he asked hopefully.

Glaring daggers at him from across the room, Raven growled, "You're kidding, right? I'd love to hear your definition of a friend."

"Last time I checked, siccing your dogs on us isn't a sign of friendship!" Ed hissed. "Those two didn't go easy!"

Chuckling airily, Ling said dismissively, "Let it go. I'll give them a talking-to later. The girl's name is Lan Fan, and the old man is called Fu. Their family has served mine for generations," he explained. "They're quite good at what they do."

Raising an unamused eyebrow, Ed noted sarcastically, "Oh, so you shake down strangers for food, and yet you can somehow afford two personal attendants?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Ling responded, "Well, I am the emperor's son, after all."

Raven felt her mouth fall open on its own accord. "Emperor's son?" she repeated, unsure if she had heard him correctly. He nodded. "Then that would make you… a _prince_?"

Immediately, the three of them burst out laughing hysterically to the point where they were on the floor clutching their stomachs. Ling stood overlook them, scratching his head in thought. "Not the reaction I anticipated…" he contemplated.

"Sorry," Al managed between giggles. "We just didn't see that coming!"

"Yeah," Ed agreed, still laughing. "The guy who collapsed on the road and then mooched food off of us is the son of an emperor!"

From seemingly nowhere, a kunai knife flew through the air and embedded itself in the woodwork of a desk three inches away from Edward's face. Yelping in surprise, he jumped away from the object as if expecting it to explode, then turned his gaze toward the window. Through the tears in her eyes, Raven could make out a dark head poking up through the open window, and recognized it to be one of Ling's guards- Lan Fan, if she remembered correctly.

Glaring murderously at the blonde, Lan Fan threatened darkly, "You will not speak badly about Master Ling." Waves of murderous intent seemed to radiate from the dark haired girl, but she seemed content to sit and burn a hole through Ed's head from outside.

"Great to see you," Ed muttered dryly.

Ling went on to explain how he was only one of forty-three heirs to the throne as emperor of Xing, saying that his status as prince really didn't mean very much in his country. Due to the declining health of the current emperor, Ling had set out in search of the Philosopher's Stone in order to gain the secret of immortality to curry favor and hopefully ascend the throne. "So," he broached the topic once again, "the Philosopher's Stone; what information can you offer?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Raven retorted, "Yeah, right. That's not going to happen. The stone's not a tool for whatever political game you're playing."

Groaning loudly in exasperation, Ling place himself between her and Ed, slinging his arms over their shoulders. "Then I'll just have to stay with you until you tell me!" he said in a sing-song voice.

Beating the boy off with his arm, Ed yelled, "No way in hell!" Latching onto his leg and grabbing Raven's wrist, Ling refused to acknowledge defeat even as the blonde continued to relentlessly hit him over the head with the metal prosthetic and the girl tried pushing him back with her foot.

"I'm back!" a chillingly familiar voice made him pause mid-strike. Everyone turned to stare at Winry as she walked through the open door, not paying much attention to the scene in front of her as she continued to glance back over her shoulder at the town. "Did you guys see that? There was some kind of fight on Main Street, so it took a while to…" she trailed off as she finally turned her gaze upon the strange sight in the room. Her eyes traveled past a fretful-looking Al, Raven with her foot in Ling's face, Ling and his unyielding grip on Ed's leg, and settled first on the automail arm held poised above Ed's head, then to the stump of the remains of his right arm.

For a moment, all was still until Winry shattered the silence. "What happened to your arm?" she shrieked, hurling an assortment of tools at the blonde's head while screaming a long string of profanities.

Dodging out of the way of her wrath, Raven and Ling scrambled out of the blonde girl's way and moved to stand as far away from the wave of destruction as possible. Casting a glance from the corner of her eye at the boy beside her, Raven once again replayed the events of the afternoon in her mind. _That same guy… is a prince? _

As if feeling her gaze on him, Ling grinned as he turned his dark eyes on her. "Is there something about me that fascinates you to the point of staring?" he teased lightly.

The corner of her mouth turned down. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the Philosopher's Stone is a dead end. You're not going to like what you find if you continue looking for it."

Folding his arms over his chest, Ling didn't appear the slightest bit deterred. "I appreciate your concern, but I have no intention of backing down. My clan is relying on me, and I refuse to let them down. I knew from the beginning my search wouldn't be easy, but difficulty doesn't matter to me. All I need is possible."

Raven felt the corner of her lip twitch upward. His resolve truly was something to be reckoned with, but in a way, it reminded her of herself. _We all have too much to loose to not go through with our ambitions._


	19. Moving Forward

**Disclaimer: It has come to my attention that owning people is illegal. So I don't own FMA. I also don't own stories from the Grimm Brothers.**

**KarmaHope: I can only hope that I'll get better at portraying Ling at time goes on! Thanks for the tips!**

**yyh-ygo-fma: Thanks for your review! I love to hear your reactions to events as they happen! **

**FullMetalWizardNerd7: Lol, nice review! Sorry it took me so long to get these past couple chapters out!**

**UPDATE: I recently made a DeviantArt account (like, yesterday) and I posted a digitally colored pic I did of Raven. Link is here: .com/#/d4n9xg2. Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think! And on that note, onto the chapter!**

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><p>With tentative fingers, Raven tried to draw out the process of dialing the number for Central Command's offices for as long as she could. She'd been putting off making the call long enough as it was, but she knew that there was no avoiding it; sooner or later, she'd have to speak with Colonel Mustang.<p>

She had so many questions for him, but only a select few could be spoken over the phone. Even the private lines to the officers stationed at Central were monitored by agents at all hours. Still, the scientist in her was plagued with curiosity and intrigue over the development of recent events. What was the military doing in Dublith in the first place? Why was the Fuhrer with them? Had he known that Greed was a homunculus? How had he learned that she was researching the Philosopher's Stone? And even more recently, her encounter with Captain Nielson on the train to Rush Valley only served to provide her with more questions. Why were there still troops being deployed to Ishvalan territory? This one puzzled her deeply, for the last news she had heard about the region was that of a full military withdrawal. _And what's more, _she mulled over another thought, _why would a member of the Sixteenth Division, an elite division, be sent to South City for an investigation? _She made a mental note to request details of his mission when she returned to Central.

Tapping her finger against the table she was leaning against, Raven impatiently waited as a secretary connected her to Mustang's personal line. Counting the seconds in her head, she focused only on the numbers as she breathed in and out in time with each tick of the clock. When the line finally picked up, she had managed to even out her heartbeat and set her mind to a calm.

"What is it, Iron Haste?" Mustang's usually brisk tone seemed to drag heavily, causing Raven to blink once in confusion. He sounded unbelievably weary and exhausted, but a reassuring glance at the clock told her it was only a quarter after four. _Long day of staring at paperwork? _Raven guessed, though wasn't entirely convinced.

Shaking off her initial surprise, Raven got right down to business. "I just wanted to give you an update, sir," she threw in the 'sir' so as not to test just how foul a mood he was in. "Fullmetal and I made a quick stop in Rush Valley for a few automail repairs, but we should be headed back to Central within a day's time."

"Alright," he nearly sighed. "Anything else?"

Raven hesitated momentarily before muttering a quiet, "I also wanted to thank you, for clearing things up with the military back in Dublith. I owe you."

For a moment, she could almost picture a slight smirk on his face as he replied, "Just don't be so careless next time. It wasn't easy to convince them that you were there on assignment."

Raven's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she asked, "Why didn't you tell me that a squad was being dispatched? Or that Fuhrer Bradley was among them?"

"Because I wasn't aware of it myself when I first assigned you this task," he responded somewhat breezily, obviously distracted.

Frowning, Raven said, "Hey, Mustang? Is everything alright on your end? You really don't sound the greatest," she managed to keep her usual sarcasm out of the statement. In the past, she had seen Mustang dog tired and practically dead on his feet after long nights of filling out paperwork and writing up reports, but this seemed different. He had never seemed so… heavy-hearted, resigned even. Not that she was particularly fond of her superior officer, but she had to admit his tone worried her slightly.

It was a while before Mustang finally answered in a flat, even voice. "Everything is fine. Just make sure that when you report back to Central, you have your report written up and ready to hand in."

Raven nearly slapped her forehead in disgrace. She'd completely forgotten to even begin writing her report entailing the events of her mission. She should have been keeping a day-by-day account of everything that had happened while in Dublith, but she'd had other priorities at the time. Like avoiding any unnecessary confrontations with her aunt. _What a complete waste of time_, she mentally groaned, both at the thought of her going out of her way to avoid Izumi and of taking the time to write out her report. "Will do," she responded shortly, not wanting to give away her thoughts. "Thank you, sir."

"Keep yourself in check. Fullmetal too," he added before hanging up without another word.

Sighing as she placed the phone back on the receiver, Raven tried to ignore the strange twisting feeling in her gut as she made her way out of the kitchen area and back into Garfiel's workshop. During the time that she had slipped away to make her call to Mustang, she noted that Mr. Garfiel as well as Ling and his entourage had made themselves scarce while Winry was seemingly at work on repairing Edward's arm. He and his brother had remained in the shop to discuss plans for a return trip to Central- which Winry intended to accompany- when Raven joined them.

Turning around in his seat to face the dark-haired girl, Al inquired, "So, how'd it go? Was he upset?"

Shaking her head, Raven walked over to where the mechanic gestured for her to stand in order to take measurements of her arm. "Not really," she replied as Winry held out Raven's right arm and pulled out a measuring tape. "He seemed kinda distracted though, like there was something else on his mind."

Rolling his eyes, Ed said disdainfully, "He was probably thinking about Lieutenant Hawkeye in a miniskirt or something. You know how he is."

"That's not it. He sounded weird, like there was something genuinely bothering him. But when I asked about it, he was pretty vague. Just said that everything was fine on his end."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Winry said as she dropped Raven's arm and rolled her tape back up. "He would have told you if something serious happened, right?"

Raven shrugged. "I suppose so…"

"Then you have nothing to worry about," the blonde chirped as she turned back toward one of her many worktables. Jotting down the calculations she needed on a notepad, Winry busied herself with minor machine preparations for the next day when she would begin the construction process of the pair's automail.

As the blonde girl carefully laid out her tools, Raven pulled up a chair next to the Elric brothers around an empty square worktable and sat in near-silence for several minutes. Glancing across the table at her companions, Raven restrained a smug grin that threatened to cross her features. She noted that for the past several minutes, Ed had been studiously observing Winry, and judging from his content expression, he had been doing without his even noticing. His gaze was not of that to be expected of a hormone-ridden fifteen year old, but much softer, more thoughtful and genuine. _He really does care for her_, Raven noted, unsure whether to be happy with her recent discovery or mischievous as she thought of all the ways she could use this information to tease the pair. Perhaps both.

"So, Rae," Ed snapped her out of her impish thoughts and back to reality. "Did you need to talk to Al and me about something? You came looking for us earlier, so we figured it must have been important."

Filing away her earlier thoughts for later pondering, she quickly racked her brain for details. Finally, Raven nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah, you're right. Back in Dublith, when the military took me in for questioning-"

"Hold on a second!" Winry interrupted, whirling around and turning toward Raven with a stern expression. "What did the military want with you? What did you get yourself into this time?" she restrained a sigh. Raven was taking after the Elrics quite well- she seemed to have acquired their same knack for finding trouble.

Choosing her next words carefully, Raven answered as evenly and calmly as she could, "I was in Dublith on a mission, a few minor complications arose, and the military just wanted to ask me a few questions. No big deal," she shrugged nonchalantly, deliberately leaving out the details of her behind handcuffed to a chair while said inquires were made.

Narrowing her eyes marginally, Winry's expression told Raven that she still expected a further explanation of recent events, but for now she seemed content with her answer. At least, she didn't press the matter any further.

"Anyway," Raven directed the conversation back to its original purpose. "I'm starting to get worried with how paranoid the military's become. They were interrogating me for hours, asking for the same details, asking the same questions... They seemed particularly interested in whether or not I'd seen Bradley down in the sewers while Greed was trying to make his getaway."

Frowning in contemplation, Ed reminded her, "Well, before they herded you off, they said you were being questioned about an assassination attempt on Bradley. It doesn't seem so surprising that they'd ask you about it."

"Wait," Winry interrupted once again, her expression turning suspicious. Her eyes widened to the size of teacups when she continued, "You don't mean _Führer_King Bradley, do you? And you-," she grappled for words. "What on earth were you thinking?" she nearly shouted.

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, Raven fought to keep her voice level. "It was a misunderstanding, alright? Yes, I ordered an assassination on Bradley, but I only said that to lure out my target in the mission! Bradley's life was never in any danger! I didn't even have the intention of letting them so much as step foot outside of Dublith unless they were in cuffs. The whole thing was a setup! The military saw it as a serious potential threat and took me in for questioning, that's it," she finished in a tone that implied she would not elaborate much more on the subject.

"I understand that part," Al said evenly, "but what has you so worried?"

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down a bit after her short rant, Raven answered, "I think the military knows what we're doing. They gave me the same warning they gave you, which makes we wonder if they're keeping tabs on us. Either that, or maybe someone we know is informing the senior staff about our movements. Any way you look at it, it gives reason to worry."

The brothers shared a hard glance, clearly not taking much liking to either of the possibilities. It was a while before anyone in the room even spoke. Surprisingly, it was Winry who broke the silence. "So what will you do?" she asked quietly.

The corner of his mouth twitching up in a smirk, Ed turned to face her. "Isn't it obvious? We blow them off and keep looking. We're too close now to just give up."

Narrowing her eyes worriedly, Winry countered, "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"Winry, when has anything Ed said _ever _been a good idea?" Raven retorted earning her a sharp glare from said blonde. Before he could open his mouth to snap at her, she continued, "Sure, it may not be the smartest idea for us to go against the military, and sure, it certainly won't be easy, but this is the path we've chosen. I'm with Ed; I don't intend to back down now," she said with a grin.

Nodding in agreement, Al added, "We can't back down now. Not when we're this close to finding out the truth."

Raven eyed at the suit of armor thoughtfully, a memory of earlier that afternoon occurring to her. "By the way, Al, since when can you transmute just by clapping?"

Turning attentively toward her, Al explained, "Back in Dublith, I regained my memories of when I went through the portal. The knowledge I gained on the other side came back to me, including how to transmute without a circle." He paused, cocking his head to the side a bit as an idea formed in his mind. "You saw it too, right, Raven?" She nodded. "Then you should be able to transmute the same way," he deduced.

Shrugging, Raven responded with an uncertain, "I guess so. I've never really tried, but I suppose it's true."

"Give it a shot," Ed encouraged.

Nodding agreement, Al held up his hands in demonstration. "Just like this," he pressed the palms of his hands together as if in prayer, and then touched his left hand to a chunk of scrap metal laying on a nearby worktable. The square of iron began to twist and bend as if it were clay, until finally molding into the form of a small figurine of a dog. As he did so, Raven paid careful attention to his hands, watching every minute movement of his fingers while performing the clapping gesture. _He makes it look so easy_, Raven thought, scratching her head in concentration as she tried to comprehend the trick behind the action.

"Try transmuting your automail," Al suggested. "That was the first transmutation Brother did when he found out he could transmute without an array."

Huffing in annoyance, Winry snatched up a nearby wrench and clubbed the suit of armor on the side of his helmet. The dull echo that followed quickly behind was drowned out by the sound of her scolding, "She's already made a big enough mess of her automail! Don't encourage her!"

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Ed added as if Winry hadn't spoken, "You could try making your knuckles spiked; it should be fairly simple."

Now turning her wrath on the blonde, Winry whacked him right on top of his head as well. "Didn't you hear a word I just said?" she vented. "Don't encourage her!"

As Ed shot back an indignant response and his brother joined the ramblings, Raven mentally turned the dial for noise level down. Blocking out their banter, she did a quick inspection of her hands, trying to determine the trick behind the transmutation. As far as she could tell, the shape of the palms as they pressed together determined the shape of the would-be transmutation circle. Though it might have been a bit trickier with prosthetic limbs, Raven had seen Ed manage the transmutation dozens of times without the slightest indication of effort. _Can't be too difficult_, she mentally shrugged. Clapping her hands experimentally, she gently rested her hand on the automail of her left arm, concentrating as she visualized her knuckles forming spikes. The bickering three fell silent as they waited in anticipation for something- anything- to happen.

Seconds ticked by and no change occurred. Finally deciding to break the silence, Ed noted with a hint of disappointment, "So I guess it doesn't work after all."

Walking around to the other side of the table where she sat and leaning over to examine her arm, Al muttered, "But I'm almost positive you'd have the same ability. I don't see why- WHOA!" he exclaimed before he was abruptly cut off by a loud crack that resounded through the air. Al flew backward onto the floor where he landed in a loud and creaking heap.

The air seemed to stand still as three pairs of eyes stared transfixed at the suit of armor. Raven felt her own eyes grow to the size of dinner plates as she spotted a tiny newly formed hole sitting in the center of his chest plate. From within the armor, she clearly heard the telltale quiet echoing of something small and metal rolling around against metal plates. She didn't need to open up the armor to know exactly what it was; it wasn't too difficult to put the damage and the sudden loosening in one of her arm's plates together and reach the same conclusion.

"Oh my gosh Al! I am so sorry!" she fretted, dropping to her knees beside the silent and shocked boy, inspecting the damage she had caused.

Breaking out of his daze, Edward was immediately at his brother's side, scrutinizing the hole and trying to make out what had just happened. Turning to Raven, he snapped, "What are you doing, putting holes in my brother?"

"It was an accident!" she indignantly shot back. "I was just trying to do what you said! I didn't mean to shoot him!"

Blinking in astonishment, Ed half-shouted in unison with his brother, "You did _what_?" It would have been comical in any other situation, has she not just accidentally shot the fifteen year old suit of armor.

She explained in a rushed tone, "I can fire the screws of my automail at targets- it's practically a gun. But I wasn't aiming to shoot him! I swear!"

In the blink of an eye, Winry was hovering over her with a wrench poised threateningly above her head. "How many times do I need to remind you about wrecking my creations?" she scolded, whacking Raven none-too-gently upside the head with the tool.

Wincing while she rubbed her sore skull, Raven snapped, "I already told you, it was an accident! You try transmuting just by clapping without screwing up on your first time!"

"I did it just fine my first time," Ed muttered under his breath. "But whatever. Since this is obviously above your skill level, I wouldn't recommend trying it again for a while," he said as he distracted himself with filling in the hole in his brother's armor.

She shot a dark glare at the back of his head at the words 'above your skill level', but kept her mouth shut about the comment. He had a point; she wasn't ready to transmute with this style until she was certain she knew exactly how it was done. She didn't want to repeat accidentally shooting someone, where there would be no way of fixing the damage after it was dealt. "Fine," she reluctantly agreed. "Are you going to be alright, Al?"

As his armor stretched to completely cover the bullet hole, Al sat up and pulled himself to his feet. "I think so," he said, shaking his left foot a bit. The screw of her automail snuck out of a crack in the plates and rolled across the floor.

Scratching the back of her head in embarrassment, Raven apologized once again before excusing herself from the room, claiming to be exhausted from the day's events. Winry directed her to a hallway where the staircase would lead up to the bedrooms, and that Raven was welcome to take the spare room at the end of the hall on the right. With a quiet murmuring of thanks, Raven trudged up the stairs with leaden feet. Sleep was the last thing on her mind at the moment, set aside in favor of getting started on her report for the Colonel. _No rest for the wicked_, she mused halfheartedly.

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><p><em>She had no rest or peace until she set out secretly, and went forth into the wide world to trace out her brothers and set them free, let it cost what it might. She took nothing with her but a little ring belonging to her parents as a keepsake, a loaf of bread against hunger, a little pitcher of water against thirst, and a little chair as a provision against weariness. And now she went continually onwards, far, far to the very end of the world. Then she came to the sun, but it was too hot and terrible, and devoured little children. Hastily she ran away, and ran to the moon, but it was far too cold, and also awful and malicious, and when it saw the child, it said, "I smell, I smell the flesh of men." On this she ran swiftly away, and came to the stars, which were kind and good to her, and each of them sat on its own particular little chair. But the morning star arose, and gave her the drumstick of a chicken, and said, "If thou hast not that drumstick, thou canst not open the Glass mountain, and in the Glass mountain are thy brothers."<em>

Sighing quietly, Raven threw her legs over the armrest of the plush couch she was currently nestled in as she flipped the page of her book. She was surprised at the roominess of the place, making her feel more at ease and at home than any establishment she'd stayed at in years. There was a twin bed pressed up against one wall, facing directly across from where she was laid out on a small loveseat couch. A small oak night table was situated by the head of the bed with a brightly lit lamp sitting on top of it. In the corner on her right were a matching set of bookshelves, fully stocked with mostly engineering and crafting reading material- she had found the book in her lap quite a surprise find given the surrounding volumes. Just to the left of the loveseat was a large dresser which was currently empty, only serving as a reminder to Raven that she needed to pick up clothes and other various necessities of her own. Behind her was a large bay window, presently thrown open to allow for fresh air circulation into the room. Voices drifted up to her through the window, barely a murmur of indistinguishable tones as their words seemed to blur together into one great noise. It was considerably quieter than the hustle and bustle of Central City though, Raven noted, and fairly easy to tune out with the proper distraction.

One such distraction was in Raven's possession at the moment, a distraction that had driven her attention momentarily away from the half-written official report still sitting on the desk, waiting to be finished. She didn't much care if she finished it that night though, for the train ride back to Central would provide her with plenty of time to complete her task. Glancing back down at the novel resting in her lap, she still couldn't believe she'd discovered it in the first place. Stashed away on the bottom notch of the bookshelf, lying horizontally across the top of the already-crowded space, was a copy of the complete works of the Grimm Brothers. It was only a few short years ago- three, if she remembered correctly- that the collection of fairy tales had been translated into Amestrian, but what truly fascinated her was the fact that the content hadn't been altered. Along with the original text's translation, changes had been made to make the stories more 'child-friendly', and very few copies of the original translation existed. Raven was amazed that Winry or Mr. Garfiel had managed to get their hands on it, and even further puzzled as to why either one would need it in the first place.

_Must be for some sort of reminiscent purpose_, she deduced. Not that it particularly mattered to her- she was just grateful to have been able to distract her attention with the stories.

Idly flipping the page, her eyes began to scan the next line of text when she felt a warm breath brush against the back of her neck. She stiffened as she sensed movement behind her.

"Whatcha readin'?" a sing-song voice chirped in her ear.

Half leaping and half falling out of the chair with a yelp in surprise, the book flew out of her hands and landed open on its spine a few feet away with a hard thunk on the wooden floor. Raven felt her heart hammering in her chest as she registered the sight of Ling half-hanging in the windowsill and leaning against the back of the small couch. As always, he wore his signature childish grin and she saw a glimmer of mischief in his dark, narrow eyes. "Hiya!" he said in a lively tone, holding his hand up in a casual greeting wave.

Huffing in annoyance, she propped herself up on her elbows and glared at the spirited boy. "Any particular reason why you're hanging outside my window this late at night?" she asked pointedly.

Swinging gracefully over the windowsill, Ling landed quietly into a sitting position on the couch she had until recently been occupying. "I was lounging on the roof, enjoying the view when I saw your light was on. I decided to investigate," he stated simply. His eyes glanced off to the side with mild curiosity to where Raven's discarded book lay open. "Ooh, what's this?" he cooed like a child given a new toy as he leapt to his feet and bent over to retrieve the novel.

Pulling herself up off the floor, Raven went to stand over his shoulder as he flipped the book over to stare at the cover. "'The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales'?" he read aloud. "Not fair!" he whined. "How come you can read fairy tales but when I mention something like the Philosopher's Stone, it's like I committed a crime?"

Frowning, Raven snatched the book back from Ling's hands and stared at him with level eyes. "It's one thing to read a story where when you cut open a wolf's stomach, a bunch of kids pop out alive and the wolf survives having his organs cut open. It's another thing entirely to devote your life to hunting down an object based purely on myth and rumor," she answered evenly, turning to the bookshelf behind her and returning the leather-bound novel to its place. She took a deep breath before facing Ling again, and found him staring at her with an openly curious expression. "Was there something you needed?" she asked, fidgeting slightly under his speculative gaze.

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Ling cast his eyes about the room before walking over to the bookshelf Raven stood beside and studying its contents. Raven thought that he had forgotten her question and was about to repeat it when he finally spoke in an airy tone, "Actually, there was something. I'm still trying to figure out what happened to you back in the alley earlier, but I think I have a pretty good guess."

Raven raised an eyebrow partly in wariness and partly from astonishment. "Which is...?" she encouraged, not entirely positive she wanted to hear his answer.

Peering at her from the corner of his dark eyes, he evenly replied, "You're dying, aren't you?"

* * *

><p>Judging from her taken aback expression, Ling guessed his theory was right on the mark. "How-" she stumbled over words. "How did you- know?"<p>

Cocking his head to the side slightly, he stared at the girl carefully, crossing his arms over his chest. "I ignored it when I first met you because I thought it was just the atmosphere playing tricks on me, but your Qi is all messed up," he explained.

She blinked in confusion. "My what?"

"Your Qi," Ling elaborated. "It's essentially the energy in your life force. My people from Xing have the ability to sense it in every living being, and it kind of goes hand-in-hand with alkahestry-"

"Hold on," the dark-haired girl interrupted. "Alkahestry? Is that your people's version of alchemy?"

Ling nodded. "From what I understand, yes, the two are incredibly similar, though alkahestry is mainly used for medicinal purposes while Ed tells me that alchemy is used primarily for military purposes. And before you ask," he said as she opened her mouth to interrupt him once again, "no, I don't practice alkahestry."

He could see her deflate a bit as he said those words. "So," she pressed on, though with less enthusiasm, "what was it you were saying about my shi?"

"Qi," Ling corrected her. "It always flows in a specific pattern through the body, but with you it's just a chaotic mess. There's no order and it almost seems like there's something missing." He noticed her expression growing grimmer with each word he said, and it was easy to see that she knew the cause of her Qi's strange behavior. "How'd it happen?" he asked outright.

Narrowing her eyes in suspicion at him, Raven countered, "And why should I tell you?"

"Because," Ling stated simply. "If I'm going to stick around you guys, I should at least get to know you, right?"

Crossing her arms, she responded wryly, "Since when did any of us agree that you were sticking around?"

"Oh come on," Ling whined, pulling on the sleeve of her jacket like a child vying for the attention of an adult. "It'll be fun!"

Swatting him away, Raven huffed, "How can you act like such a child? This isn't some kiddy game."

Quirking an eyebrow at her statement, Ling retaliated, "And maybe you shouldn't take it so seriously. You're not an adult; you're only fourteen, so there's no need for you to act so mature all the time. Just because you have white hair doesn't mean you have to play the role of the wise old sage," he added somewhat jokingly.

She scowled. "I'm almost sixteen years old! I'm not that short!" she vented angrily.

Chuckling quietly, Ling patted her head. "So there _is _a kid in you!" he mused.

Ducking out of his reach, Raven glared at him through unamused eyes. Jerking a thumb back toward the window, she ordered, "Out. Before this kid kicks you through the window."

Holding up his hands in surrender, Ling took a few steps toward the open window. "Alright, alright," he obliged. Swinging himself over the back of the couch and onto the windowsill, he paused as he heard Raven's voice quietly utter a few words.

"I lost a portion of my soul," she murmured.

Glancing at her over his shoulder, Ling saw her gazing at him with honest eyes, not at all like it had been mere moments ago. "What was that?" Ling asked curiously.

Taking a deep breath, Raven repeated, "The reason you say my Qi is abnormal; it's because a part of my life force, my soul, is missing. That's the reason why I cough up blood and that's the reason why I'm dying." Ling's eyebrows rose in surprise not from the statement itself, but more the fact that she'd even told him in the first place. Upon seeing his expression and guessing his thoughts, her face flushed slightly. "I just thought you should know, since you asked."

The corner of Ling's mouth twitched up in a grin. "Thanks," he said before deftly swinging up over the window frame and disappearing into the night.

* * *

><p>Even after a quick meal and another hour of reading over various volumes lining the bookshelf in her room, sleep still managed to evade Raven. She found this odd, since she'd been awake for nearly sixteen hours and her head still felt a bit light from the afternoon's events. Her mind simply refused to power down for the night however, as she kept replaying various conversation in her head. A few in particular were weighing heavily on her mind, including her interrogation with Eaton back in Dublith, her farewell to Izumi, the short chat she'd shared with the Captain on the train, and more recently her meeting with the Xingese boy, and the strange conversation she'd had on the phone with Mustang. Each exchange kept replaying in her mind over and over again like a broken record until she couldn't stand all the voices simultaneously talking over one another.<p>

Deciding that a burst of fresh air would set her mind at ease, Raven swung her legs over the side of her bed and crossed the room over to dresser. Retrieving her coat from where it hung lazily on one of the knobs, she slid her arms though the sleeves and quietly unlatched her window. Swinging out onto the windowsill, she clambered barefoot up the wall along a ventilation pipe until her hands latched on to the edge of the roof. Heaving her body over and onto the ledge, Raven took a few moments to catch her breath. She didn't know how Ling made it appear so easy, swinging around like a monkey along the rooftops and through the windows.

Situating herself into a sitting position with her legs drawn up to her chest, Raven pulled her jacket tighter to her body as a chill tainted the slight breeze. Though it was only eight o'clock, sunlight had quickly faded over an hour and a half ago as the fiery orb set over the horizon cast by the mountains surrounding the valley town. The sky was overcast with thick grey clouds, obscuring the blanket of stars hiding above.

The very air felt different down in the town of Rush Valley, nestled between pale white mountains on all sides. It wasn't as light, but smelled richer, as if you could taste the surrounding earth. Surprisingly, Raven found it was a nice change from the stagnant air of cities, somehow finding it easier to breathe. Or maybe it was just the detached feeling Rush Valley gave off; separated from the rest of the world by the walls of the mountains, dividing the town from the outside world and all its problems. In a way, Rush Valley was a world all its own, with its own quirks and worries- though compared to hers, they were on a much smaller scale. Needless to say, Raven saw the appeal that drew Winry to this place. She would have gladly traded Central life for a piece of this automail paradise.

Readjusting herself, Raven lay flat on her back and tried to make out even the faintest glimmer of stars behind the curtain of dull grey. The stony ledge was cold even through the fabric of her jacket, and the breeze didn't help much either. Angling her knees, she drew her legs up from the frigid surface of the ledge, her bare feet beginning to feel like stone themselves. The cold of the night helped clear her head a bit, and out in the open air like this, Raven felt fatigue finally setting into her aching limbs.

Despite the size of the city, it was surprisingly bright as the sky directly above was painted with a splash of dull gold and pale orange, looking like flames lighting up the clouds. In its own bizarre way, the sight was soothingly beautiful, and the mere thought of fire slightly lessened the spreading chill across her body.

Evenly timing her breathing, Raven tried to empty her mind completely, and instead of concentrating on the recent turn of events, she repeated the words of a story she knew by heart. _Then he looked at it, and saw that it was a ring belonging to his father and mother, and said, "God grant that our sister may be here, and then we shall be free." When the maiden, who was standing behind the door watching, heard that wish, she came forth, and on this all the ravens were restored to their human form again. And they embraced and kissed each other, and went joyfully home._

_I wonder what it'll be like, when I am finally called home_, Raven pondered as her eyes grew heavy and the darkness descended upon her.


	20. Graves of the Unknown

**Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, fan-based fanfiction. Fullmetal Alchemist is owned by Hiromu Arakawa. Please support the official release.**

**yyh-ygo-fma: Lol, hope you liked the chapter! **

**(): Good job figuring out why Mustang was all depressed! Thinking about it made me all depressed too... And actually, while writing this chapter I had to watch episode 16 of FMA:B for inspiration quite a bit, and it made me so freaking sad! TT TT At least it's all done and over with now.**

**KarmaHope: I'm actually surprised by how few LingxOC stories there are out there, so I'm hoping I do a good job with this one! There will be quite a bit more Ling-Raven interaction in the next chapter, so stay tuned!**

**kaflute14: Thanks so much! I appreciate it! Sorry about how late this update is, but I hope you still like it!**

**Remember when I said I wouldn't go for long periods without updating more than that one time? I guess I lied. On top of taking the ACTs and managing all AP classes, I broke my right arm doing something so stupid that I don't even want to explain. Typing up this update was such a pain since I'm right-handed and only had my left hand to work with. And damn, this cast is so freaking itchy! My ranting aside, here's the latest update- chapter 20 WOOT! Thank you to everyone who's been reviewing/favoriting/alerting my story. This one's for you!**

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><p>As the first ray of sunlight peaked out over the rim of the canyon and beamed directly into Raven's face, she was half-tempted to roll over and bury her face away from the unwelcome light. Just as the urge tugged at her mind, recollection of where she was hit her like a brick and she froze with her face centimeters from the edge of the rooftop. Letting out a quiet breath of relief, she sat up, stretched her limbs, and eased herself carefully down the ledge. Although going down was easier than climbing up, Raven was still amazed that she'd managed to do either successfully with only one functioning hand. Slipping as quietly as she could back into her room, Raven crawled beneath the covers of her bed and managed to drift back into a dreamless sleep for another handful of hours.<p>

Some time later, she was startled out of sleep by a much-too-energetic-looking Winry who appeared to be running off of a coffee-induced caffeine high. She informed the bleary-eyed girl that her prosthetics were ready for a final inspection before reattachment. It took some heavy persuasion, but Raven eventually rolled out of bed, dressed herself, and joined Winry down in the workshop.

While Winry worked, Raven did her best to answer the girl's questions about recent events, being careful to give her the censored version that involved as minimal amounts of peril as possible. Needless to say, quite a bit was edited out for the mechanic's sake, but she didn't seem to mind too much. She was grateful enough to at least have a general idea of what the three of them were doing, which was more than what the Elrics usually gave her. In less time than what Raven thought possible, her arms were being reattached and she was set free. Well, sort of.

The next few hours were a meaningless and indistinguishable blur to Raven. Winry knew that the dark-haired girl didn't have much for traveling items, and insisted that she take the girl out shopping. The shop was closed for the morning and afternoon and everyone else had gone about the town running their own personal errands, so no one would mind if the two of them spent some time together. Two and a half hours later, Raven had a new travel case containing a few sets of clothes and an assortment of basic necessities.

"Ugh, I'm beat," Raven moaned as she plopped her suitcase onto the kitchen floor of the house section of Garfiel's shop. Falling into a chair at the dining table, her legs felt like jelly from the hours spent walking across town from store to store and dressing room to dressing room. "Thanks for today," she added as the blonde girl followed suit and slumped tiredly into the chair opposite her.

"No problem," Winry waved a dismissive hand. "At least everything will be all set and ready for when we leave tonight," she pointed out.

"Ed said he and Al would pick up the tickets this morning, right?" Raven inquired.

Winry nodded, then glanced at the wall clock behind her, frowning a bit. "They should be back soon, but knowing those two, they can't even walk out in public without getting into trouble," she rubbed her temple as if the mere idea gave her a headache.

"True," Raven agreed, having been a firsthand witness to the chaos that tended to ensue the instant either of the Elrics stepped foot outside. "They attract quite the intriguing crowd," she added, thinking back on how Scar had targeted them simply because of a title Ed wore, and more recently with Ling and his search for knowledge about eternal life. Though the latter had met them purely out of coincidence, he still seemed to hold steadfast to his commitment of sticking with them.

Half-smiling, Winry said, "That's for sure. You're proof of that, aren't you?" she added jokingly.

Rolling her eyes, Raven returned the blonde girl's smile. "I guess you could say that," she conceded. Putting a finger to her lip in contemplation, she asked aloud, "I wonder who among the three of us is the most normal? The one in the suit of armor, the short one who's been mistaken for a girl, or the one with the white hair who can't seem to stop hitting people. What do you think?" she asked the other girl.

"Who thinks what?" came an unmistakably innocent voice from behind. Glancing over her shoulder, Raven noted the two Elric brothers who had just entered through the side door into the kitchen. In Alphonse's hand were four train tickets, which he proceeded to hand out to each of the other members of the group.

Skimming over her ticket's heading, Raven answered, "I was just asking Winry who she thinks is the most normal of all of us."

Rubbing her chin thoughtfully, Winry carefully appraised each of the three persons in question. "Hmm… I really don't know the answer to that. None of you really seem to fall under the textbook definition of 'normal'."

"Who cares about being normal anyway? We are who we are, and that's what makes us unique individuals." Al added philosophically.

Grinning, Raven had to admit that, as usual, Al was right. Normality was fairly boring after all, and if she'd been normal, perhaps she never would have met Edward or Alphonse or Winry. Maybe she could have done without the constant bickering with Ed, but she was still grateful to have known them.

"So," Winry chirped, "what time does the train leave?"

Scratching the back of his head, Ed nonchalantly answered, "In half an hour."

Winry's jaw dropped. "You're telling me this _now_?" She jumped up out of her chair and bolted from the room, muttering something about making sure to pack her favorite wrench in case she needed to smack someone with it later.

Watching the blonde girl scurry up to her room and dart around the workshop throwing various tools into her toolbox while Ed and Al held back a fit of laughter, Raven had to smile again. As crazy as life may have been, she felt oddly at peace, like things might make a turn for the better.

If only…

* * *

><p>The first hour or so of the train ride had been tolerable enough for Raven, as she managed to keep herself busy completing her final report for the Colonel, but after that she fell victim to utter boredom. Winry had finally crashed after going for eighteen hours without so much as a wink of sleep, and Ed had fallen into a deep sleep shortly after departing from the train station in Rush Valley. That had left Al and Raven the only two left conscious, and they had chatted for a good amount of time before tiring of small talk. One could only go for so long before burning through nearly every meaningless topic for idle chit-chat, and neither Alphonse nor Raven seemed to take any particular interest in the conversation anyway.<p>

There was only so much to do while waiting out the remainder of a train ride that lasted for a couple hours, and Raven found herself constantly chiding herself for not sneaking a book out of Mr. Garfiel's guest room. She would have even settled for an engineering manual if it would have spared her the tedium. But as always, she thought with a restrained sigh, the simplest of things were always the first to slip her mind.

The passenger car their group had decided to occupy was fairly noisy considering how crowded for space it was. The background noise of various conversations was enough to nearly drown out the clatter of the train as it traveled down the tracks, but there was one unusual sound in particular that Raven couldn't seem to place. Throughout the rest of the monotonous train ride, the alchemist could have sworn she heard the quiet patter of footsteps above her on the cart roof, but convinced herself it was her imagination. There were only a small few people who were stupid enough- Raven categorized her under this classification- or talented enough to train hop, but that didn't stop the uncoordinated from trying the stunt. One quick glance across the booth told her that Al was either completely oblivious to it- which was highly unlikely since he was probably the most perceptive one among them- or she was merely hearing things. Figuring it was of little importance anyway, she managed to ignore the noises for the remainder of the four hour journey. Instead, she busied her mind and drifted off into daydreams of leaping from cloud to cloud like she would a train as she stared out the window and watched the world pass by.

At some point in time, Raven figured she must have fallen asleep because the next thing she was aware of was Alphonse shaking her shoulder. "Rae? We're here."

Heaving a sigh, Raven slowly stretched her now-sore limbs that were still stiff from the uncomfortable seat and slid out of the booth. Glancing groggily about as she pulled her travel case down from the rack above, she asked, "Where did Ed and Winry go?'

"They already got off. Ed didn't want to be the one to wake you up," he admitted sheepishly.

Cracking a smile as she threw the case casually over her shoulder, she began making her way out of the near-empty cart when she once again heard the sound of footsteps clattering about on the metal roof. She paused, staring up at the ceiling as if she could see through it and determine whether or not her mind was playing tricks on her. Turning around to face Al for reassurance, she asked, "Did you hear that?"

Tilting his head toward the roof, he faintly heard the sound of withdrawing steps. Turning his attention back upon the girl in front of him, Al responded, "That's just Ling and his bodyguards. They've been up there riding on the roof the whole time."

_So he did notice it_, Raven confirmed her earlier suspicions. "Persistent bunch, aren't they?" she mumbled, frowning slightly. "How long do you think they'll stick around?" she inquired as she began walking toward the unloading doors.

Following closely behind her, Al replied, "Well, I doubt that Ling's the type to give up on something like this easily, if he even gives up at all."

Biting her lip, Raven had to agree with Alphonse's assumption. Ling didn't strike her as one to back down on something he had set his sights on, and despite his cheery visage, she knew he would do just about anything in order to achieve his goal. His resolve was something to be reckoned with, and that could prove to be problematic later on down the road. However, as childish as he seemed to act, Raven felt that he may still have a role to play yet, and perhaps keeping him around for a while longer could be beneficial. Somehow... "For the time being, let's just see how things play out," she decided.

Nodding, Al added, "That's what Brother thought, too."

"Although," she said loudly as she stepped off the train onto solid cement, making sure she spoke loud enough for Edward to hear her. "I don't know if I can handle babysitting another kid. Shrimptastic over there is enough of a handful as it is," she teased while making her way toward where said shrimp stood waiting at a nearby bench with Winry at his side.

Scowling, Ed snapped, "Who are you calling so small you could pick him up with a set of chopsticks?"

Smirking at her desired reaction, Raven put her free hand on her hip and glanced over her shoulder at Alphonse with a sly expression. "Point proven?" The suit of armor only sighed. Directing her gaze to a flash of movement above the train cart, Raven's eyebrows rose as she saw the two black-clad Xingese bodyguards flitting about back and forth across the roof of the train, calling out their master's name. Pointing to the scene, Raven asked somewhat bewildered, "What's that all about?"

Frowning a bit, Winry answered, "Apparently Ling ran off again."

Huffing in annoyance, Ed added, "He's probably collapsed by the side of the road again. Serves him right. Let's go," he said, without waiting for a consensus and started off toward the station's exit.

Casting one last glance over her shoulder at the now-frantic Lan Fan and Fu, Raven sighed as she fell into step behind him. For highly skilled Xingese warriors, they seemed to be lacking when it came to the simple task of keeping watching over their master. Then again, Raven reminded herself, Ling was clever and sneaky to say the least; he'd nearly scared the life out of her when he materialized in her window the previous night.

She frowned as she recalled her short conversation with the Xingese boy. It was beyond her why she would announce the fact that she was dying to a foreign stranger she had just met that very day, but all the same, she had. It had taken her over a month to work up the courage to inform the Elrics of her situation, and even then she hadn't necessarily done so willingly. What made this boy so special? _Maybe I'm just tired of keeping everything inside_, Raven tiredly sighed in her mind. Izumi had told her to open up to people and find someone to confide in; perhaps her conscious was simply giving her a helpful nudge in the right direction. _Although_, she mentally added, _it's not really the direction I expected...  
><em>  
>As the four stepped out into the bustling streets of Central City, Raven felt the thought drift slowly away and recede into the depths of her mind. There was something stronger weighing on her at the moment: an odd tug pulling at her stomach that only strengthened with each step she took. The deeper they traveled into the city, the stronger she felt the urge to turn course and travel toward the outskirts of town. Chewing the inside of her cheek as she contemplated what would drive her to want to go that way, she stopped dead in her tracks as the answer occurred to her.<p>

Catching on to the fact that one of them had stopped, Ed paused mid-sentence in his conversation with Winry to glance back at the suddenly misty-eyed girl behind him. "Hey, Rae? You alright back there?" he called.

Blinking and shaking her head a bit to clear it, Raven looked back up at her companions as if just noticing their presence. "Yeah, I just…" she trailed off. Frowning, she set her travel case down on the ground, opened it up, and began rifling though it, ignoring the grumbles of annoyed pedestrians that had been following behind her.

Cocking her head at the other girl's strange behavior, Winry hesitantly inquired, "Um, Raven? What are you doing?"

Yanking a thick folder out from the bottom of her case, Raven fastened the clips back on her trunk, and stood up with her case in hand. "Here," she said distractedly as she shoved the thick manila envelope at Edward's chest. "You mind giving that to Mustang for me? It's my report on the mission in Dublith," she briefly explained in a clipped tone.

Frowning as he reluctantly gripped the folder, Ed countered, "Why can't you deliver it? It was your mission, so why can't you give him your report yourself?" he demanded.

Raven glanced off longingly toward the east, her eyes clearly reflecting her desire to follow the pull in her stomach. The others noticed this, which only served to deepen their puzzlement, as their own eyes stared at the distracted alchemist in confusion. "I've got something I need to take care of real quick," she answered vaguely, stuffing her hands in her pockets while she made a beeline toward the edges of the crowd heading east. "I'll catch up with you later," she added half-heartedly over her shoulder.

Staring after her in disbelief, Al called, "Where are you even going?" But he received no reply; Raven continued to stride away from them as if she hadn't heard him speak, and disappeared in the crowd of bodies.

* * *

><p>"Hmm..." Raven mumbled aloud. "What should I get?" she wondered as she examined a display of flowers.<p>

Glancing around the store, Raven admired the flower shop; it was a bit small, tucked away between a cafe and furniture store, but the way the inside was arranged gave the appearance of a wide-open space. Two of the walls were covered in floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked with bouquets of specific types of flowers while the entire back wall consisted of displays of mixed varieties.

At the moment, Raven was torn between a bouquet of a dozen pale pink roses, and a white-themed bouquet with a single tiger lily sprouting from the middle. Leaning in closer to the latter choice, she inhaled the rich mix of white roses, baby's breath, magnolias, and of course, the tiger lily. As strange as the combination may have sounded, their scents flowed well together, and the arrangement wasn't bad to look at either.

"Can I help you with anything, honey?" a middle-aged woman rounded the corner beside Raven, bringing with her a strong wave of lavender as she moved to stand next to the deliberating girl.

Finally making up her mind, Raven reached out and plucked the tiger lily bouquet from the display shelf. "I'd like this one please," she said, setting her travel case down as she fished for her pocketbook somewhere within the recesses of her coat.

Reaching out to take the bundle from the girl's arms so she could find her money, the shopkeeper appraised the bouquet. "You have beautiful taste. Not too many people purchase this arrangement. Is it for a boyfriend? A future husband perhaps?" she inquired with a wry smile.

Laughing quietly, Raven shook her head as she pulled out her pocketbook. "It's for a friend, actually." She smiled gently as she handed over a few bills in exchange for the bouquet. She sniffed the flowers again before adding quietly, "My best friend."

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><p>As she knelt before the grave of her dear friend, Raven carefully laid the flowers at the base of the stone and stared at its weary face. It read simply, <em>Here lies Devin Frea. September 27, 1900 - March 6, 1908. Beloved daughter and cherished friend. She will forever remain in the hearts of all.<br>_  
>Raven had never much liked the engraving in her friend's headstone. It didn't even begin to describe what she meant to everyone who had known her. Devin had had a way with people, even at such a young age. The smile that was permanently glued to her face was contagious, and made even the surliest adults soften. She had always been a social butterfly, but it was unexpected when she had befriended Raven as a child. People often wondered why such a bright, cheery, and lively girl would ever want to associate with an angsty brat such as herself who couldn't seem to stop getting into fights. She had even asked the girl this question herself once, not long after her brother had passed; she would never forget Devin's response.<p>

_"Because you weren't smiling. I think people always look better when they smile, so I try to make everyone I meet smile. Now that I got to see you smile, I want to keep making you smile every day. That's what friends do."_

Taking a deep breath, Raven considered saying a few words, but knew she really didn't need to. She had already said everything she had needed to say

Rising and gathering her travel case at her side, Raven allowed her feet to carry her in the direction she knew would lead her to her brother. Scanning the names on the headstones as she continued down row after row of graves, she tried to imagine what each person's life had been like when they were alive. _Marie Wenton, Taylor Johnson, Joshua Holmes. Loving wife, dearest son, beloved father. Maybe she lived a quiet life as a schoolteacher, he was a craftsman's apprentice, and he was trying to make a living for himself and his children as an author,_Raven contemplated as she traveled deeper into the cemetery.

With each step she took, she felt her heart clench at the sight of so many grave markers, so many lives gone. She wondered if she might come to be buried here in the near future. Would she be laid to rest alongside her family, or maybe in a reserved area for military personnel. She tried not to dwell too much on the idea.

_Kevin Storry, Alexandria Clemmins, Maes Hughes, Daniel Fisher-  
><em>  
>Raven froze in her tracks and felt her hand loose grip on the handle of her suitcase. It dropped with a soft thud onto the grass, but she paid it no mind. Her heart constricted and her breath stayed locked in her chest. It took her an eternity to work up the courage and glance back at the stone, praying that her eyes had initially deceived her.<p>

They hadn't.

Struggling to get an intake of breath, Raven forced herself to read the grim stone face. _Maes Hughes. 1885 - 1914. Devoted soldier, a loving man of family. May he rest in peace._

Suddenly, her conversation over the phone with Mustang clicked into place. The reason he sounded so troubled; the reason he couldn't seem to focus; the reason he had warned her to be careful. It was because he was mourning the loss of Maes Hughes.

"Hughes," Raven murmured the man's name, as if calling to him would attract his attention and he'd leap out from behind a tree and laugh as if nothing had ever changed. But deep down, she knew that no matter how loudly or how often she called out to him, he would not appear. "You can't be dead," she feebly attempted to reassure herself, still trying to convince herself that it was all some sort of sick joke.

Her eyes prickled as salt water tears blurred her vision, and she hastily rubbed them away with the sleeve of her jacket. _I won't let him see me cry_, she thought firmly. _I'd never hear the end of it if he saw me break down like this._The pitiful thought once again threatened to bring on the waterworks, and she bit the inside of her cheek until it bled to distract herself. The sting did little to help clear her mind, but she was able to form one single coherent thought.

_Where is Mustang?_

* * *

><p>Sighing as he fell back into his chair, Roy Mustang rubbed his eyes tiredly and reached for his coffee cup. The past few days had been nothing short of hellish for him, and oftentimes he wondered if or when he would wake up from this nightmare. He could picture it: he'd be shaken awake by his First Lieutenant after falling asleep with his face in a mountain of paperwork on his desk only to be greeted by the sight of a photograph flashing a beaming three-year-old Elicia and her mother. Or maybe the phone beside his ear would ring and it would be Hughes with another pointless call to gush about his daughter.<p>

But he knew Hughes wouldn't call. He'd never call again.

_Stop it_, Mustang scolded himself. _You'll never rise to become the Fuhrer if you keep sulking like this._ Dispelling the morbid thoughts from his mind as best as he could, the Colonel tipped his head back and took a long drink of his black coffee. He was beyond exhausted to the point where he doubted that any amount of caffeine would make him more alert, but he had to keep himself awake somehow, even if he had to falsely convince himself of it. _Coffee will help_, he thought robotically.

An intensely bitter and disgusting taste filled his mouth, and he immediately spit his mouthful of the black liquid out onto the floor beside his desk. All was silent in the room as his subordinates ceased their activities to stare at their superior in bewilderment. Ignoring them to the best of his extent, Roy coughed up as much of it as he could to rid the awful taste from his mouth, but the coffee had left a nasty aftertaste. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he realized that he'd experienced that same taste before in a very similar situation. One simply never forgot the taste of dirt, or the person responsible for tasting it in the first place.

Gritting his teeth, he rose to his feet and stormed across the room as he made his way to the door. He felt the inquisitive and worried gazes of his subordinates on him as he stomped on past their workstation, but his anger and irritation was directed on someone else to bother with his team. "Where is she?" he growled at a near-shout. "Where is Iron Haste?"

"Sir!" he half-heard Hawkeye begin an attempt to reason with him, but he ignored this as well.

"Where are you, Guardel?" he yelled as he threw open the double doors of his office and stopped dead in his tracks as he nearly stumbled over the girl in question.

Standing just outside the threshold was none other than the young alchemist herself, her expression hard. Her vibrant green eyes looked glassy as if she were on the verge of tears, but Mustang knew well enough that they would not come. Her entire body was quivering, whether with rage or distress he was not sure of, but her clenched and shaking fists as her sides hinted toward the former.

"Guardel," she carefully enunciated through clenched teeth, her tone barely keeping even, "is currently in a place between pissed off and distraught. Care to take a guess as to why?" she nearly spat.

Saying nothing, the Colonel continued to stare at her face with unwavering eyes. Continuing anyway, Raven hissed, "It's because her ass of a Colonel didn't think she would want to know that the man she saw as her father was dead." She paused to regain control of her breathing, but it seemed to do her little good. "Do you want to explain to me why the hell didn't you tell me?" she snapped.

Clenching his teeth, it was a while before Roy could articulate an answer. "Why do you think? Because I knew you'd react like this and I wanted to spare us both the argument." He felt his anger rise, and allowed it to speak for him. His tone became slightly mocking as he continued, "But as always, like the petulant child you are, you can't resist taking the opportunity to lash out."

Her face twisted into a deep scowl as he allowed his last comment to dig its way underneath her skin. He knew that the girl could take being called just about any name one threw at her, but being referred to as a child was the one thing that tipped her over the edge. Swept up by his emotions, Mustang continued, "And what's even better is the fact that you think you're the only one affected by this. We all knew Hughes; what makes you think you get special treatment?"

Mustang could clearly see that if it had not been for their height difference, she would have smacked him across the face. But, Raven being Raven, she settled for punching him in the gut instead, causing him to double over from the force of impact from her metal fist. He could already tell that it would leave a bruise, and for an instant he thought he deserved it before he quickly dispelled the thought. If she wanted to act like a stubborn kid, then maybe she needed to hear the harsh truth-

"I don't expect special treatment. I never have," she said softly, not containing any of the earlier venom that had colored her voice. It was enough to make the Colonel raise his head to stare at her with a flicker of surprise. Raven's anger seemed to have significantly quelled, replaced with a deep and exhausted sadness. "But since when has telling me the truth ever been considered an act of special treatment?" With that, she turned on her heel and quickly disappeared down the hallway out of sight. As she ran away, Mustang swore he heard her sniffling as she fought to restrain her tears, and judging by the faint trail of saltwater drops splattered on the floor, she had failed miserably.


	21. A Shared Greed

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA, as owning people is highly frowned upon.**

**KarmaHope: Thanks! I'm glad you like the last chapter and hope you like this one as well!**

**yyh-ygo-fma: I'm glad you liked the chapter. Yes, Hughes' death was the saddest moment (in my opinion) in FMA, particularly Brotherhood. **

**FullMetalWizardNerd7: I really don't recommend breaking any of your bones. It's not nearly as fun as it sounds. And sorry about the lateness of my updates! **

**Seize the Rain: I totally get being busy! School can be such a pain! Lol, I'm glad you approve of the LingxOCxGreed turn of events.**

**Obviously this update is seriously overdue, but my arm didn't set right the first time and I had to have surgery to get it dealt with... again. But it's almost entirely healed now, so hopefully I will be able to update sooner this time around. Also, having my arm broken and typing made difficult for me has made me realize how much of a pain it is to write an author's note addressing each person's review, so I think that this will be the last time I do so in chapter updates. Instead, I'll send a PM addressing each of your reviews. On a lighter note, thank you so much to everyone that wished me a fast recovery! Now, onto the story!**

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><p>Raven never cried. Not when she'd undergone surgery and rehabilitation for her automail prosthetics. Not when she'd been kidnapped and taken to Lior. Not when she'd receive electrocutions of over 50,000 volts on a daily basis. Not when she'd had both of her arms blown apart right before her eyes. Not when she'd been stabbed by the Slicer brothers. Not even when she'd faced the prospect of death. She had convinced herself that all her tears had dried up, that crying was a physical impossibility for her.<p>

But she was crying now; there was no convincing herself otherwise. There was no mistaking the sting of saltwater or the cool tracks they left as they cascaded down her face. Crying for the man that had been the closest thing she had ever had to a father. Crying because she knew his death was partly her doing. She had roped him into the business of the Philosopher's Stone and military conspiracy, and now he had paid the price for trying to help her. This was his reward for trying to help her achieve her goal- being shot point-blank. And now she had yet another life that would forever remain on her conscious, and a sickening feeling told her that he may not be the last.

Bursting through the doors of Central Command, she didn't slow her pace as she flew down the stairs leading up to the grand building. Through blurred eyes, she caught brief glances of military personnel casting her inquisitive and solemn looks, as if they knew the cause of her tribulation, or at least suspected. _Did everyone know except us?_The thought was nearly enough to rekindle her initial rage, but in truth, it only made her more depressed.

And so she ran.

Without being entirely conscious of it, she sprinted farther and farther away from the building, allowing her feet to carry her wherever they so chose. She didn't much care where they would lead her, only if they could distance her as much as possible from Central Command and hopefully leave behind the painful memory. Maybe if she ran fast enough, she could leave everything behind and life would go back to normal. Things would be so much simpler; no blood, no tears, no automail, no mistakes, and no regrets. But Raven knew that no matter how many tears she shed, how strongly she wished, or even prayed to some deity, this was her life. This was life; she had always known that it wouldn't be easy. _But why does it have to hurt so much?_

Clenching her eyes tightly shut, she willed the painful thoughts away but found them still imprinted on the back of her lids like a brand, and just as agonizing. Mentally cursing herself, she realized how pathetic she was being, how weak she truly was. Normally she would put on a brave face and tough it out through any situation, but lately she noticed that the carefully-constructed protective emotional wall she had built up around herself had begun to deteriorate. When did she become so... open?

More than that, when did she allow herself to open up willingly?

Shoving her way past pedestrians crowding the walk, she ignored their annoyed mumblings and protests, too wrapped up in her own world to care much about others. Not for the first time, she found herself envying them for their blissful ignorance. Few- if any- of them would ever have to experience the trials she or her companions faced, and most of them would never know the tragedy that each of the three of their hearts carried. Perhaps it was better to be jealous of them rather than angry; she didn't wish her fate upon any of these innocent people, even if she still held some bitterness towards them in her heart. She didn't linger too much on the subject for fear of angering herself again, and put all of her concentration back into putting as much distance between herself and Central Command.

As much as she wished for solitude, Raven knew that at one point or another she would need to meet back up with the Elrics and Winry that evening. Needless to say, it wasn't something she was looking forward to one bit. If she had responded this negatively toward the news of Hughes' death, then she could only imagine how the other three would react. She had quickly learned after the Tucker-chimera affair that Edward seemed to take this sort of thing particularly hard, and if she had learned anything about the boy, it was that being near him in this sort of state was not the best scenario. Alphonse might be a bit better than his brother, but it would only appear so on the outside; she knew that he would hide his true sadness and bury it out of concern for his older brother. And Winry... Raven didn't even want to begin to imagine the other girl's reaction. Though she knew the pain of loosing someone dear- as Raven had recently learned that Winry's parents had both been killed during the Ishvalan War- this fact would do little to dispel her grief. This was not a scene that Raven was at all eager to return to.

And so, she continued to run until her feet began to ache. At first, the fact did not register in her mind, which had long-since lapsed into numbness and made her oblivious to everything but the beating of her own heart and the pounding of her shoes hitting the pavement. Then it hit her: a sharp stabbing at the balls of her feet as she nearly tripped over the curb on her way across a deserted street. Judging from the soreness radiating up her foot each time she applied pressure on a particular area, she suspected the bottoms of her feet were covered in blisters. Mentally cursing, she took a quick glance around to survey her surroundings.

From the little she could tell, she guessed that she was somewhere close to the southwest outskirts of town. She stood on one side of a small canal that divided the immediate area between residential and industrial on the opposite side. A short stone staircase leading down to the water's edge stood a few meters in front of her, a sidewalk lining the path beside the canal. Momentarily ignoring the protests of her feet, Raven made her way over to the steps and sat near the bottom, folding her arms across her knees and resting her chin on top.

She stared with unfocused eyes at the water's glassy surface, trying to completely empty her mind. Sighing quietly when her thoughts crept back up on her, she buried her face in her arms and closed her eyes. Counting her breaths, she managed to keep focused on this singular task without thinking of anything else. At some point she lost count and opened her eyes, staring blankly ahead of her as she lifted her head and propped her chin back on her arms. She managed to keep thoughts of Hughes at bay, but her gloom still clung to her like the plague and clouded her senses. If the Drachman army came crashing through the town, Raven doubtfully would have noticed, much less cared. As selfish as it was, she was too absorbed in her own self-pity to take interest in what transpired around her at the moment.

That was exactly was she was being, Raven knew: selfish, plain and simple. She should have stuck around to hear Mustang's explanation instead of punching him in the stomach out of blind anger. She should have at least made an effort to catch up with Ed, Al, and Winry instead of going off on her own to wallow. She should have gone to give her condolences to Hughes' wife and daughter instead of reflecting on how she herself was affected by the situation. Above all, she should not be sitting alone throwing a self-pity party for herself while others were mourning the same loss she was. Yet, as selfish as it was, for the time being, she was perfectly content with it. _Let me be miserable and get it over with,_she contended, fighting back another round of tears that threatened to overflow.

"Hey!" beamed a cheery voice from behind her, wrapping a pair of arms casually around her neck. "Look who I found!"

Nearly leaping out of her skin, Raven fought to keep from letting out a shriek as the familiar voice slowly registered in her mind. Turning her head slightly, her suspicions were confirmed by the normally narrow eyes that were currently shut as he grinned widely at her. "L-ling," she stuttered somewhat breathlessly, still a bit rattled by his sudden appearance.

Grinning widely, the Xingese boy greeted in a sing-song voice, "Hello!" He tightened his hug around her neck. "What's my little Rae-Rae doing here?" he cooed.

Frowning a bit, she half-heartedly replied, "Choking, at the moment. Can you let go of me?" she demanded tiredly, trying to pry his arms away from her.

Taking the hint, he loosened his arms from around her neck and wrapped them loosely around her waist, settling his chin on her shoulder. He peered at her with an almost childlike curiosity, intrigue written plainly in his dark eyes. "But you look like you need a hug," he pointed out.

Raven knew he was right, and she could only imagine how she must have looked. Eyes red and glassy, cheeks possibly still stained with her tears, her body hunched over and curling in on itself as she sulked at the bottom of the staircase, practically radiating depression. It would have come to no surprise to her if there was a black cloud hovering ominously above her head, ready to crack open and pour rain.

Blinking fiercely away any possible existence of recently-shed tears and hastily wiping her cheeks dry, she asked somewhat thickly, "How did you even find me?"

Cocking his head a bit to the side as he considered her question, Ling absent-mindedly took a lock of her hair and began to twist it between his fingers. Raven stiffened at this, but did not object, much to her own bewilderment. In fact, she was surprised by her lack of action against the arm that was still draped loosely around her waist, but continued to allow this as well. "Your Qi," he finally answered, "is practically a big flashing sign shouting 'Rae-Rae is right here!'," he said distractedly. "And you're not exactly one to blend well into a crowd," he added with a small grin that she did not return.

"Why were you looking for me?" Raven asked, her tone making it apparent that she hadn't wanted to be found in the first place. But, as oblivious as ever, it didn't seem to compute in the Xingese prince's mind.

Finally dropping her strand of hair, Ling met her eyes with a flicker of amusement. "I was bored," he stated simply, "and thought I might find one of my new buddies to treat me to lunch."

Finding the corner of her mouth twitching up in a ghost of a grin, Raven said somewhat mockingly, "Still trying to sponge food off of near-perfect strangers?"

For an instant, she saw an unidentifiable emotion flash across his face before disappearing so quickly it was easy to think she had imagined the whole thing. In any event, that smile she had come to think of as idiotic settled back on his face, appearing surprisingly comforting. It was one small thing to be grateful for, his unchanging childish mannerisms while the world around him flipped one hundred and eighty degrees in the blink of an eye. Raven thought fleetingly that it was something she could get used to, just the safety of familiarity. It disappeared almost immediately as she reminded herself that with the path she had chosen to travel, familiarity was a trivial luxury, one that she couldn't afford to indulge if she wished to achieve her goal. And she _had_to see it through now or Hughes' death would amount to nothing, and she wasn't about to waste his sacrifice.

Scratching the back of his head, Ling didn't appear the least bit miffed by her earlier comment. "It's not sponging off strangers if I know them," he indignantly replied.

"You're right," Raven amended. "It's sponging off people you call friends."

A grin spread its way across his face as he raised an eyebrow slightly. "So you do admit that we're friends," he noted, to which she shrugged uncaringly. "Eh, good enough," he said, unwinding his arms from her and rising to his feet, brushing off his pants as he did so. With a sigh, Raven groggily followed suit and began to trek back up the stairwell, Ling close behind her.

"So," Ling continued, lacing his fingers together at the back of his neck, ever his chipper and completely at ease self, "where are we staying tonight?"

Raven opened her mouth to respond, but found no words escape her lips as a thought occurred to her. Letting out a small groan, she rubbed her temple as she replied, "At the Central Hotel. Damn, I left my luggage case back at the cemetery," she frowned, thinking of the long trek she would need to take across town. It would take her over half an hour to make the journey, factoring in the amount of foot and vehicular traffic that would be out and about this time of day.

As she began to contemplate simply leaving the case behind, Ling stated, "Don't worry about it," he waved a dismissive hand. "I had Fu and Lan Fan drop it off with the scary blonde mechanic; it's in good hands."

Raven was tempted to point out the fact that she had trouble trusting his goons with her personal items if they couldn't even keep track of their own master, but held her tongue as a different statement caught her attention. Pausing as they reached the top of the stairs, she asked hesitantly, "How did you even know where to find it?"

"Details, shmetails," he answered somewhat frustratingly, rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet like a kid who couldn't sit still. He opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by the loud roar of his empty stomach. Turning his expression from playful to puppy-dog pleading in the blink of an eye, Ling whined, "I'm starving! Can we eat now? Please?" he batted his eyes for extra effect.

Though she herself wasn't the least bit in the mood for food, Raven knew that the prince would only continue to hound her until she eventually caved in or he collapsed in the middle of the street. Neither option sounding very pleasing, Raven decided it best to humor him for the time being, even if she knew full well that she'd be the one paying for the meal. Sighing tiredly, she responded, "Alright. Where do you want to go?"

The corner of his mouth twitching up in a playful grin, Ling answered, "I know a place..."

* * *

><p>"How on earth does this qualify as 'a nice and quiet place to fill up'?" Raven had difficulties keeping the twitching of her eye under control as she glared half-heartedly at the Xingese boy stuffing his face across from her.<p>

Apparently Ling's idea of a 'place' was much in contrast with her own definition, judging from the restaurant he led- though perhaps dragged would be a more accurate term- Raven to. It wasn't particularly fancy, as most of the customers were in casual attire, but one look at their menu quickly changed her initial assumption. While she recognized a few names of meat dishes thanks to Izumi's owning a butcher shop, a quick glance revealed several foreign dish names that she could barely even pronounce, let alone understand what they were. On top of that, the cheapest item on the menu was nearly two thousand five hundred cens, and Ling's voracious appetite refused to settle for one measly bowl of pasta. No, he had to order half of the menu and one of each of the deserts. Raven didn't even want to think what the payment would total up to in the end.

Taking a brief moment to pause from inhaling his steak, Ling glanced up at her with bemused eyes. "Well, it's a nice place and I'm filling my stomach, aren't I?"

Drawing her eyebrows together, Raven continued, "How did you even know about this restaurant in the first place?"

Shrugging, he responded around a mouthful of food, "I saw it on the train ride in."

"I thought you ditched us as we pulled into Central," Raven countered.

"Why do you ask so many questions? Less talking, more eating!" he declared as a waiter brought him a slice of cheesecake.

As he set her slice of desert before her, she stared blankly at the cheesecake before sliding it away from her. In response to the questioning stare Ling shot at her, Raven said, "I'm not hungry."

"Come on!" Ling chided. "Don't let good food go to waste! Besides, it wouldn't hurt you to put on a few pounds."

Raven crossed her arms over her chest and deliberately looked away from him. She knew that he was right in the fact that she should eat something, that she had begun to loose weight and it was clearly showing. Part of her worried about what skipping a meal would do to her, but at the moment she doubted her stomach's ability to retain anything. In fact, she was amazed that she'd allowed herself to be dragged to this restaurant in the first place. She was in no mood for food, much less humoring the Xingese prince she wasn't certain whether or not she even liked. _So why did you do it anyway?_an annoying voice prodded at the back of her mind.

_Because you need companionship now more than ever.  
><em>  
>"What do you think, Rae?" Ling's voice broke her out of her reverie.<p>

It took her a while to register the fact that Ling had been talking to her all the while she had spaced out. Blinking, dazed, Raven stared blankly at him for a moment before lamely saying, "Uh… yeah. I guess I have to agree with that."

Ling raised a bemused eyebrow. "I didn't even say anything. I was just seeing if you were paying attention," he explained in response to her confused expression. "You're pretty out of it, aren't ya?"

Shrugging sheepishly, Raven replied, "I have a lot on my mind right now. I'm not exactly having a good day," she added somewhat bitterly.

"Then don't think," Ling said simply, "just relax and eat."

The corner of her mouth twitching up in a small grin, she responded, "I'll leave the eating to you; you're certainly eating enough for two... or twelve." She paused to consider this fact as Ling polished off his second bowl of pasta. "How can you even eat so much food anyway? And how are you not fat?"

Pausing from inhaling his food, he answered, "I burn it all off with my mind; my brain works so fast that it's like exercising."

"So thinking is that strenuous for you that it's the equivalent of a workout?"

"You doubt my genius?"

"No, I just believe in your idiocy."

For a while they were both perfectly silent, staring at each other with blank expressions and hard eyes. Then, Ling broke out in a fit of laughter that made him double over in his chair and clutch his stomach while Raven watched on with slightly bemused eyes. She felt her lips crack a tiny smile at the sight of his light-hearted attitude, suddenly grateful for the Xingese prince's company; it hadn't occurred to her until this point just how much she appreciated the comfort- however small- of a presence at her side. Even she couldn't deny that this strange and joking encounter was much better than the cold solitude she had sought earlier.

Finally catching his breath, Ling directed his squinty gaze at Raven's face, a grin lit up on his own. "You actually _do_have a sense of humor!"

"Contrary to popular belief, I'm not always like this; it is in my capability to smile every once in a while."

Ling's grin faltered slightly. "So how come you aren't now?" Raven shrugged tiredly in response, to which he pouted in annoyance. "Come on! For a minute there, you looked like you were actually enjoying yourself!"

"Yeah, well, life decided to sneak up on me and remind me that it's always keeping an eye on me." Raven mumbled distractedly as their waiter set a bill as long as her forearm down beside her plate. "Speaking of sneaking up..." she muttered, casting a quick glare at an innocent-looking Ling before glancing back down at the dreaded slip of paper. Any trace of the good humor she had earlier was wiped clean at the sight of the over one hundred thousand cens payment due. Grimacing as she took out her checkbook, she wrote out the hefty sum that could probably feed a family of four for two weeks. If this became a regular occurrence- which she had a strong feeling it would, due to Ling's ever-resilient persistence- then she would be broke in a matter of a handful of months.

Sighing, she slipped the check into the bill folder and rose from her seat. "Come on, Your Highness," she said dryly as she half-pulled Ling out of his chair and steered him toward the door. "Before they try to get any more money out of me."

"Shouldn't you leave a tip?"

Raven resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Coming from the prince of 'dine-and-dash'? You want to leave a 15% tip?"

"You make a good point. Let's go!" Ling slung his arm over her shoulder and led her out the door and into the street.

The crowds out and about had thinned somewhat during the late afternoon, but there still seemed to be plenty of people out roaming the streets of Central. Raven was somewhat surprised at this, as she had thought that time was passing much faster than it actually was and expected most people to be headed home for the evening. A quick glance at the westward sky told her that a few more hours of sunlight remained in the day, though she had been wishing since noon that the day would just draw to a close already. _Just a little longer_, she told herself. _You just have to hang on for a little bit longer_.

"By the way, you really oughtta do it more often," Ling commented as he shoved his hands in his pockets and continued walking down the side of the lane.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Raven matched his stride and looked carefully at his face while she asked, "Do what?"

"Smile," he stated as if it were the most obvious fact imaginable. His expression never changed from its happy calm, but Raven swore she saw some emotion she couldn't identify flash across his dark eyes.

She hadn't thought much of it before, but now she was beginning to notice Ling's attempts to keep a tight lip on his thoughts and emotions, which made her wonder just what was really going on inside that thick head of his. _Maybe he's not as big an idiot as I think..._she filed the thought away for future reference.

"I suppose I ought to say thanks," she said, "for keeping me company."

Quirking an eyebrow a bit at that, Ling happily responded, "Better get used to it, 'cause I'm not leavin' anytime soon. And that means you're not allowed to go anywhere either."

Now it was Raven's turn to raise a skeptical eyebrow. "Since when do I need your permission to go somewhere?"

"Since you agreed to help me out in my quest."

"I don't recall ever agreeing to helping you look for the Stone."

"But you gave me food! That means you'll help me!"

"I only fed you because your stomach wouldn't shut up and I didn't feel like carrying your unconscious body halfway across town. I never agreed to help you with anything else."

"But why not?" Ling whined.

"Because," she carefully annunciated, "you treat the Stone too lightly, like it's some kind of amusing game to you. I can't stand it."

Ling's eyes darkened as he gauged her tone and expression. "You can't stand the idea of someone using the Stone, yet you yourself want to use it. That seems kinda hypocritical to me."

"And you want to use it so you can live forever; I would use it just so I could live to be forty," she said defensively. "Call me a hypocrite as much as you want, but you're just being-" she broke off just as the thought dawned on her. It was something that had been bugging her since she had first met the Xingese boy and he had revealed his intentions to her concerning the Philosopher's Stone. Only now did she realize how similar his desires were to someone else's she had recently encountered.

Ling raised an eyebrow, waiting for her continue. "Selfish?" he offered.

"Greedy," she murmured.

Something in her voice must have alerted him that she was put-off by her own statement, but he was clearly confused as to why the realization of him being greedy was relevant. "Aren't we all that way? Don't you want something that you can't have?"

Raven's eyes flashed in anger, but she didn't speak. Ling took this as an opportunity to continue, "You know that I'm right. I saw you back at the cemetery, that grave you stopped at. Wouldn't you want to see him again? Isn't that being greedy, to want to cheat death so you can see someone you care about alive again?"

"Stop," she hissed between her clenched teeth. At her side, her hand clenched and unclenched into a fist as she fought to control her temper.

"We're not that different," Ling went on. "You're just as greedy as I am-"

_SMACK!_ Not for the first time that day, Raven thoughtlessly allowed her temper to get the best of her, and she slapped the Xingese prince across the cheek. His head whipped to the side from the impact, and she could already see a red mark blossoming across his skin where her hand had hit. And similarly to the first time, she did not feel a speck of remorse for her actions. She didn't even care that some pedestrians had stopped to stare at the scene she was making.

"I know the consequences of trying to bring someone back to life," she said roughly. "I'm paying for it with my own life. Don't try and tell me that we're the same. _We're not_." She turned on her heel and marched away from Ling, not looking to see his expression as she left him standing there in shock. She didn't look back once.

* * *

><p>The sun had just about set by the time Raven arrived at the Central Hotel, and she was beginning to feel downright exhausted as she trekked up the staircase to her room assignment. All the events of the day seemed to crash down upon her one at a time with every step she took, stabbing at her heart with every stair she climbed. She felt all of her earlier anger fade away into background noise, replaced instead with a hollowness that might have been regret.<p>

For a brief moment, Raven felt her gut twist sharply with guilt. She fleetingly wondered if it had been a mistake to leave Ling standing there, with his red cheek and her anger still hanging bitterly in the air. So far, all her actions of the day had only proven Mustang's earlier point that she was nothing more than a child waiting for every opportunity to lash out at others. It was one thing when she was arguing playfully with Edward, it was another thing entirely when her temper got out of hand, as she had made blatantly obvious in her meetings with the Colonel and Ling. She had been told numerous times in the past that her temper would be the death of her, but she had never given much thought to the prospect of ruining her relationships with people every time she snapped.

But it was far too late to change her words now. There was no taking her actions back. What was done was done, and she was too exhausted to even think about apologizing- that is, if she even decided to apologize.

Deciding it would probably be best to make a quick check-in with the Elrics, she stopped first at the room she knew they were occupying- right next to hers and Winry's- and tried the doorknob. Seeing it was unlocked, she quietly knocked before slipping inside. Walking with leaden feet into the hotel room, Raven's dark eyes quickly scanned the room for any signs of the Elric brothers. She didn't have to look too hard to find Alphonse sitting on the edge of a couch, gazing unseeingly out the window across from him. While it had been made apparent that the younger Elric brother could read her emotions like an open book, Raven had always found him exceptionally difficult to read due to the lack of facial expression, but his body language served just as well.

Upon hearing her footsteps, the suit of armor slowly turned around to face her. "Raven," he said exhaustedly, which sounded odd when paired with his youthful voice. "Where have you been?"

Keeping her expression blank, she shrugged and responded with a vague, "Around."

Something must have shown through in her guise, because Al seemed to be regarding her more carefully than when she had first walked in the door. Even with her one-word response, Al could detect that there was something off in her tone. "I take it you heard." He didn't need to clarify any further than that simple statement.

Nodding once, she answered with a thick voice, "Yeah. You guys too?"

"Yeah…"

Briefly glancing about the room, she noted the absence of two blonde figures. "Where are Ed and Winry?"

"They're both in Winry's room." He paused. "Ling's bodyguards, Lan Fan and Fu, gave Winry this to give to you," he inclined his head toward her travel case resting beside the coffee table in front of him.

"Thanks," Raven said tonelessly, making no move to retrieve the object. She and Winry had planned ahead for sleeping arrangements, and it had been agreed that the two girls would share a room while the brothers had one to themselves. If Edward and Winry were alone in the room, Raven didn't want to disturb them from whatever they were doing. Not that she was suspicious of the idea of those two alone in a room together- she suspected that they were only trying to comfort each other in their mutual grief- but she was none too eager to barge into a scene of Winry crying her eyes out on Ed's shoulder while he himself was battling against tears.

"Mind if I join you?" she inquired.

"Feel free."

Settling herself down onto the floor beside his seat on the couch, Raven rested her back against the leg of the coffee table and joined Alphonse as he stared unseeingly out the window. Neither of them spoke, which Raven took as a nice change of pace from her earlier experiences throughout the day. Closing her eyes, she reflected first on her relatively short conversation with Colonel Mustang before moving on to her discussions with Ling.

It was somewhat startling how quickly the atmosphere surrounding the two of them had changed, specifically how her mood had altered ever since he'd found her moping by the canal. She'd gone from depression, to irritation, to joking all within a relatively short amount of time… and all of it had been Ling's doing. It wasn't until now that she realized how relaxed she had become once Ling had gotten her talking, how she was nearly able to forget the day's revelations the instant her mind was focused on their conversation. _Was that his intent from the start? _Raven contemplated. After the way that they parted, she didn't even want to think that he'd been doing her a favor by trying to cheer her up. _Besides, is he really even smart enough to come up with something like that? _

Grimacing to herself, she pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to put the entire encounter out of her mind before she gave herself a headache. _Too late_, she begrudgingly thought.

Feeling a warm breath tickle her face, Raven opened her eye a crack and found herself staring face to face with an unmasked and unamused-looking Lan Fan, hovering mere centimeters away. Despite her earlier scare under somewhat similar conditions earlier that day, Raven still felt her heart nearly leap out of her chest at the sudden appearance of the Xingese warrior. "Geez!" she yelped, causing Alphonse to stir beside her. Flinching instinctively backward, she smacked the back of her head against the coffee table, sending sharp stabs of pain pounding through her skull. Clutching her injured head in one hand, she glared up at the other girl with as much irritation as her fatigue and sore skull allowed her to. "You Xingese types really need to work on your greeting skills," she remarked. "What do you want?"

Narrowing her dark eyes at the young alchemist, Lan Fan tightly replied, "Where is the Young Lord?"

"How should I know?" Raven responded in a clipped tone. "You're his personal attendants, so you tell me."

Lan Fan's flat onyx eyes hardened as she clearly fought to keep her patience with Raven. _Good_, Raven thought somewhat snidely.

"Raven…" Alphonse said, warning coloring his tone.

"From what we know," Lan Fan continued, "you were the last to see him late this afternoon. Where is he now?"

Frowning, Raven diverted her eyes toward the window, where she barely saw the silhouette of the old man Fu hovering just outside the sill. With the little lighting the moon provided, she could see his hard expression and face painted with anxious concern. _So much worry over one lone person,_Raven lightly mused. Then again, that one person was Ling Yao- further explanation was unnecessary.

"I have no idea where your idiot prince is," she finally answered, though her anger had significantly quelled to an exhausted irritation. "I left him near the center of town not far away from the train station, but he could be anywhere right now."

Lan Fan narrowed her eyes angrily at Raven. "Why would you leave the Young Lord on his own like that? Do you not care what happens to him?"

"… Just leave me alone. The more time you waste bothering me is less time you can spend looking for Ling. So just go already."

The Xingese girl stared long and hard at Raven's face as if she were trying to burn a hole through it, but eventually she straightened up and walked back over to the open window. "He did you a favor," she said over her shoulder as she hovered in the windowsill. "Is it really that hard for you to have done the same?" And with that, she flipped over the edge and disappeared into the night, and Raven wondered for yet another time that night if she had just made a grave mistake.


	22. Military Ties

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. And though I have the same color hair as Ed as well as his height issue, I am not him.**

**In response to the question I posted a little while ago, I have decided to first finish this story before I go in and start rewriting it. Makes a bit more sense, no? Sorry if this chapter seems a bit slow and dull, but next one is when the action starts up again, promise! And now on to chapter 22!**

* * *

><p>For a while, neither Raven nor Alphonse spoke as Lan Fan's final parting words hung in the air until they turned stagnant. If she'd had the energy, she may have been irritated with the Xingese girl for berating her about ditching Ling while it was <em>her<em>job- not Raven's- to look after the prince. She already had a part-time occupation babysitting the Elrics- though she knew better than so say so aloud to either of the brothers- and it was not in her interests to add a third person to her watch list. Moreover, it wasn't her fault if Ling didn't know when to keep his mouth shut when discussing such a sensitive topic like human transmutation. Didn't he know that she-

She paused. Of course Ling hadn't known better than to stop talking; he had no idea that she'd already tried bringing the dead back to life. How could he? She had never told him.

So she had hit him across the face and left him on his own in an unfamiliar city because she neglected to tell him not to broach a forbidden topic with her. "God, I'm so stupid," she muttered under her breath, rubbing her eyes with her thumb and forefinger.

"Maybe not stupid," Al offered, "just hard-headed."

The corner of her mouth twitched up in a humorless grin. "If I recall correctly, you once called me an idiot," she pointed out.

Al shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you even remember that. All you seemed to understand was that I had said 'fat' and you thought that I'd called you that. Not that you are," he added quickly, "but it was kind of funny at the time."

"Yeah," Raven agreed, dropping her arm back down at her side and leaned her head back against the coffee table to stare blankly up at the off-white ceiling. "But you were right back then; I was an idiot. And I still am. Probably always will be," she finished with a yawn.

Letting out a long and low breath, Al knew better than to argue with her while they were both in their current state. Neither of them was obviously thinking clearly, still absorbed in the day's chaotic events and their gloom to properly carry on a conversation. Though he was unable to sleep in his current form, Alphonse felt bone-tired, like if he let everything in his mind fade out, he would be passed out asleep in seconds. If he, a suit of armor, felt this exhausted, he could imagine how fatigued the girl on the floor beside him felt. Judging from her slouched posture and her continued efforts to stifle her yawning, she felt no different than him- more likely worse.

Just as he was about to suggest she retire to her room for the night, Raven inquired, "Did you know Hughes' family? His wife and daughter?"

He was a bit taken aback by her question, but managed to answer with a surprisingly even, "Yes."

"Did you visit them today?"

"Yes."

"How are they doing?"

Al paused while he considered her question. "Miss Gracia is a strong woman; she'll make it through. And Alecia..." he paused again. "Alecia's just like her mom. It won't be easy, but I know that they'll get through this. They are Hugheses after all."

This time when Raven smiled, it was genuine yet bittersweet. "You're right," she whispered. "That's good." To his astonishment, a tear slid down her check- a sight he never thought he'd ever see and one he hadn't wanted to either. "That's good..." she murmured again before closing her eyes and in no time at all her breathing was deep and even as she fell into slumber.

Al restrained a sigh. He'd been worried what kind of state she would be in after hearing the news of Hughes' death- knowing she had thought of the man as her father- but she seemed to be taking it rather well. At the moment, at least, it seemed that way. He knew to be wary of her reserved demeanor, as it was probably just another act she was putting on so as not to worry him. He knew better than to think she'd been this way when first given the news, and judging from Lan Fan's context, Ling had tried to cheer her up somehow- proof that Raven hadn't been in a particularly good mood.

And then there was the fact that something had happened to cause Raven to snap at the Xingese prince- she wouldn't have acted in such a dramatic manner if she hadn't been in a state of emotional turmoil. Sure, she had a bit of a temper, but from the little he was able to guess from her short conversation with Ling's bodyguard, she had done or said something that was no laughing matter. For her to be so deeply and uncharacteristically serious... One thing was for certain.

Breakfast was going to be a quiet event.

* * *

><p>When the next day arrived, Raven woke with the fleeting hope that the last twenty-four hours had been nothing but a dream, that life would return to its comfortable- albeit bizarre- normalcy. It soon became apparent however, that her naive wish was just that: naive. Alphonse must have carried her back to her room at some point during the night, because when she opened her eyes, she was laying in a bed, fully dressed in the clothes she had worn the previous day, with a heap tangled in sheets in a bed adjacent to hers- a heap she quickly identified to be Winry.<p>

The blonde girl was all the proof Raven needed to convince herself that yesterday's chaos had been a reality. Her pillow appeared slightly damp in the area near her eyes, and even in sleep her brows were drawn together in agitation. Clearly she'd had as much luck with sleeping as Raven had, judging from the purple shadows beneath her eyes and the state her bed was in- she'd probably been tossing and turning restlessly for a good part of the night. Raven herself was still exhausted, whether it was due to the fact that she had just woken up or she hadn't gotten much sleep in the first place, she wasn't sure. Probably both.

Feeling like she could no longer stand lying in bed staring up at the ceiling, Raven rolled out of the warm comforts of her bed and went about her morning routine. By the time she was done, Winry still hadn't woken up and she didn't want to disturb her, so she scribbled a quick note saying she'd gone out to pick up breakfast for them and would be back later. Not even bothering to check in with the brothers next door, Raven walked with heavy feet down the set of stairs and out into the main lobby area.

Even though she had made a similar trip- though in reverse order- last night, she found that her mood had not changed much within twelve hours. Her heart still twisted painfully in her chest as thoughts of Hughes invaded her mind against her will, her entire body still radiated physical and mental fatigue, and her wallet was still a few ounces lighter.

_Stupid everyone_, she mentally chided. _Stupid me. Stupid... stupid!_

Snapping the lid closed on the eloquent and fluent thoughts, Raven tried to empty her mind as she stepped outside into the bright seven o'clock daylight. People were out and about on their way to work or run errands, and Raven wished once again that she could loose herself in their normality, their blissful ignorance. She would always be envious of them for it, but her earlier thoughts still stood firm in her mind: no one should have to confront the hardships she or the Elrics had faced. She wouldn't wish her fate upon anyone... with the exception of Hughes's murderer perhaps. She hoped he would burn in hell for all eternity after a painful death. Preferably by her hand or at least with her watching.

_Stop it,_ she scolded herself. _Thinking about these kinds of things isn't going to help you, it's not going to bring him back, and it's not making the situation any better. Hughes would be disappointed in you for even thinking about that._

But does that mean that it's wrong?

Clenching her teeth, she set aside her morality crisis for a later date, not wanting to keep thinking about such morbid things while she was already in a perturbed state of mind. She focused her efforts instead on finding a market or food stall selling breakfast items so everyone could wake up to something that wasn't completely depressing.

After about a half hour of wandering the streets, she managed to scrounge up some apples and oranges from a fruit stall and a few pastries from a nearby bakery. Loading it all into a paper bag- courtesy of the bakery woman- she began the trek back to the hotel, sneaking a few bites from an apple in attempt to calm her stomach. Somehow though, she doubted hunger pains had anything to do with the knot her insides were shaping into.

_Come on_, she urged herself, _calm down. You've dealt with things like this in the past. You've just got to handle it with a brave face like you always have and you'll be alright_. Somehow, the words sounded hollow and rehearsed to the point of meaningless, recited phrases. Still, it was something to keep her thoughts occupied and a goal in mind.

As she rounded a corner, Raven felt something slam into her from the side with enough force to knock her to the ground and cause her bag to fly out of her hands. Her bag along with a few other baskets flew through the air, their contents raining down on top of her like massive chunks of hail. An apple lobbed Raven on the head with a harsh thunk, and she briefly wondered if this was how Isaac Newton felt when he realized the existence of gravity. Somehow she doubted it was this painful.

"Ow," she moaned, rubbing the sore spot on the crown of her head, already feeling a bump begin to rise.

Something groaned loudly beside her, then shot up from the ground. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" a boy's voice frantically apologized. Squinting up at him through half-lidded eyes, Raven noted he was probably about her age. He had shaggy light chestnut colored hair that flopped down in his eyes, poking out from underneath the hat he wore. His eyes were a starling blue-grey, the color of river rock and just as smooth and calm, holding a deep concern in them for the girl still staring at him from where she was sprawled out on the ground. He held out a hand in offering, his face open and genuine. "Are you alright?" he asked hopefully.

Nodding with a quiet murmur of thanks, Raven accepted his assistance and was helped to her feet. Despite his strong features, he still retained a sort of softness about him, a visible kindness that showed blatantly in his eyes. Those same eyes, however, completely threw her off; they were almost identical to Devin's both in color and emotional conveyance, she thought with a restrained shudder. But this was not the only thing that bothered her about the boy's eyes: they looked oddly familiar in a way completely unrelated to her childhood friend. She felt her brows draw together in contemplation as she racked her brain for any hint as to why his eyes stirred up something in her memory.

She must have been too obvious with her staring, because the boy cocked his head a bit to the side in confusion as he blinked obliviously at the calculating girl in front of him. "Um, are you sure you're alright?" he asked somewhat hesitantly.

Shaking her head a bit to clear it- and her expression that was clearly making him uncomfortable- Raven mumbled in response, "Sorry. I'm fine, really."

"Oh," he almost sighed with relief, "good. I thought maybe you might've hit your head or something. I'm really sorry about that; I was in a hurry and I couldn't see where I was going and…" he trailed off as he seemed to realize he was rambling. Instead, he distracted himself with turning his gaze on the hand he still had hold of. His eyes widened slightly, a strange gleam taking over his entire demeanor. He glanced back up at Raven's face, a gentle grin playing at the edges of his features. "Your automail, it's amazing!" he beamed, causing her to blush slightly.

"Um, thanks?" she tried, unsure of what to say and feeling more than a little awkward. Especially since he _still_hadn't let go of her hand.

As if reading her mind, he quickly dropped her hand, which she promptly hid behind her back. His face turned slightly red with embarrassment at her reaction. "Sorry, I'm kind of automail obsessed. I'm Evan, by the way."

"Raven. Um…" she glanced about at the assortment of foods littering the ground, a mix of hers and his. "Sorry about bumping into you."

Waving his hands about frantically, Evan quickly replied, "No, don't apologize. It was my fault. I should've been watching where I was going."

Shrugging, Raven bent down and began gathering up her items. "All the same, I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

Evan looked like he wanted to argue that there was nothing for her to be sorry for, but seemed to think better of it. Raven wondered how obvious she made it that there was no reasoning with her on any subject, no matter how trivial.

Joining her on the ground, Evan started retrieving his foodstuffs as well. Examining a bruised and battered-looking apple, he frowned. "Sorry, I think I may have ruined your food."

Waving a dismissive hand, Raven responded, "It's no big deal. I can just go back to the market and get some more."

He paused, an idea clearly formulating in his mind. "You know what? I have a better idea." Hurriedly stuffing the rest of his things back into the bags- mixing up Raven's items with his- he hauled himself to his feet and extended his hand to her. "Come with me."

Raven stared at his hand warily. "Where do you plan on taking me?" she asked.

"Just to my house," he replied, not seeming to fully register her suspicious tone. "We grow a lot of our own fruits and stuff, but we still need to buy the basics like break. Instead of going back to buy more stuff, I thought I could give you some of ours as kind of an apology. Is that okay?"

She considered his offer. If she knew anything about Edward, he would probably still be sleeping at this hour, so he wouldn't miss her presence. It was unlikely Alphonse would leave his room unless he was extremely bored, so he would doubtfully notice Raven's absence either. That only left Winry, who- with any luck- was still sleeping after the restless night she'd had. No one would be aware that Raven had even left this morning, and they would still get to wake up to a fresh- and homegrown- breakfast. _Eh, why not? I could probably use a dose of normalcy_, she mused lightly.

"Sure," she said decisively, accepting Evan's waiting hand. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>Evan led her to the eastern housing district of Central, where, unlike most other areas in the city, the houses were allowed to have front yards. Though they were rather small and most were occupied only by grass and a few trees and bushes lining the front walk, there was one home that stood apart from all the rest. It was by far the most lively-looking residency Raven had ever seen in Central City; vibrantly colored flowers sat in window boxes along the front of the two story home, and all along the fenceline were what looked to be vegetable plants and fruit trees. Raven was only mildly surprised to find herself following the brown-haired boy up the walk of this very house.<p>

Shifting his bag of groceries to one hand, Evan fiddled with the doorknob for a moment before swinging the front door open. "Come on in," he invited with a grin. "Make yourself at home."

Raven nodded, somewhat taken aback by the boy's generosity. In her past experiences with strangers, none she had ever met had shown _this_degree of decency. Apologizing for running into her on the street was one thing, bringing her home to replace the groceries she'd lost was on a whole new level of kindness, one that she wasn't sure she was completely comfortable with. All the same, she trailed behind him as he made his way inside.

"Hey Mom," Evan called upon crossing the threshold into the cozy-looking home. "I'm back," he announced.

Following hesitantly inside, Raven once again had to keep herself from staring at the sight she was greeted with inside the household. Was it grand and elegant? Quite the opposite, actually. It looked perfectly normal, which was what had enraptured Raven in the first place. Normalcy was still a concept she had a difficult time gripping onto.

Much like its exterior, the house had a very homely feel to it. The front hallway was painted a warm and earthy brown with pale hardwood flooring leading further inside the house. Lining the walls were old-time black and white portraits of elder family members staring at her as she passed with what she presumed were the same blue-grey eyes Evan held.

Following aforementioned boy out of the hall into a wide-open den and adjoining kitchen, Raven took note of the plush and faded furniture, slightly frayed rugs, and picturesque paintings that took up a good deal of space. In the kitchen, she found a woman probably in her late thirties with dark mahogany hair drying porcelain dinner plates, presumably Evan's mother.

Without glancing up from her work, the woman greeted with a smile, "Hello dear. I see you forgot the milk again."

Rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, Evan glanced over at his female companion, who was having a difficult time restraining a small grin of her own. "Yeah, well... I got a bit caught up and ran into someone."

This was enough to peak the woman's interest to look up over at her son as he dropped his bags of groceries on the tiled countertop beside her. They quickly slid past him and onto the girl still hovering uncertainly near the entrance of the den. As Raven had suspected, her eyes were the same shade as her son's, and held the same sincerity and warmth. "Oh," she said in acknowledgement. "Are you one of Evan's friends?"

Shaking her head a bit, Raven clarified, "I just met him this afternoon. We accidentally ran into each other in the street and sort of got talking."

"Ah," the woman said in understanding. Wiping her hands on her apron, she wove her way out of the kitchen over to where Raven stood, offering her hand in introduction. "As you may have already guessed, I'm Evan's mother, but you can call me Bernadette."

Raven briefly wondered if she should return the gesture, given her steel prosthetics, but thought it would be better to be polite. Hesitantly reaching out and shaking her hand, the dark-haired girl responded, "Nice to meet you, Miss Bernadette. I'm Raven."

"Good to meet you, Raven," Miss Bernadette replied warmly back. If she was at all put off by the black-haired girl's- literally- iron grip, she didn't show it. Either she was oblivious to Raven's prosthetics or was used to seeing such things. Raven guessed probably the latter, remembering Evan briefly mentioning being interested in automail.

"So," the woman snapped Raven's attention back to the present, "what brings you here?"

Evan quickly outlined the situation to his mother. "So I figured that since we have some apple and orange trees out in the front, she could have those instead of going back and buying them again," he finished.

Miss Bernadette tapped her lips in thought. Then, smiling, she said, "I have something even better in mind. You two can go ahead and sit down in the den while I prepare it for you." She shooed them out of the kitchen as she went about from cabinet to cabinet, pulling out a random assortment of ingredients.

As the two of them stood just inside the open room, a thought occurred to Raven while she absentmindedly rubbed the area where her automail was connected to her arm. "Hey, um... while we're here," she mumbled sheepishly, "would you mind helping me with my automail?"

At the sound of the word 'automail,' Evan's eyes lit up and she could almost imagine his ears perking up in attention like a dog's. She smiled a bit at the thought. "Sure!" he eagerly agreed, already eyeing up her prosthetics. "Let's get started! What do you need me to do?"

Surveying the room, Raven rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she considered how to proceed. First, she would need materials, but most households she knew of didn't have pure, raw elements at their disposal; she would need to improvise a bit. Turning decisively back to the mechanic, she inquired, "What kind of pencils do you use to sketch out your automail designs?"

His grin faltered a bit in confusion at the seemingly randomness of her question. "Charcoal. Why?"

"Do you mind grabbing a few of them for me? Actually, if you have sticks of charcoal, that would work even better. Oh, and a large piece of drafting paper," she added absentmindedly.

"Alright," Evan agreed warily, still unsure of where she intended to go with the idea, but retreated down the hall- presumably to his bedroom- to find the items.

"Miss Bernadette," she called to the woman still watching her from in the kitchen as she dumped a cup of sugar into a large mixing bowl.

At the sound of her name, she straightened up a bit, surprised at being called upon. "Yes hun? Is there anything I can get for you?"

Nodding toward the window, Raven said, "I saw that you had a garden outside, and I was wondering if you might have some fertilizer, or maybe some tree stump remover that I could use?"

A look of bewilderment crossed her features not unlike her son's reaction. "Of course," she responded in a somewhat dazed tone. "It'll be in the cabinet by the front door. I'll go get it for you," she added quickly as Raven moved toward the front hall, and was already out of the kitchen before the girl could insist against it.

As if on cue, Evan returned with a handful of thick charcoal sticks and a 20x20 sheet of white drafting paper and set them on the table, wiping his black smudged hands on his pants before glancing back at Raven. "Okay, so what next?" he asked.

"Where do you keep your matches?"

"Third drawer on the right," he pointed toward the kitchen. She followed his direction and retrieved the box of matches just as Miss Bernadette returned with a bottle of fine white powder labeled 'tree stump remover.'

Warily setting the container down beside the other materials, the woman raised her eyebrows as she registered the sight of the matches. "Is it safe to have those near chemicals?" she asked, concern coloring her voice.

Grinning apologetically, Raven reassured her, "Don't worry; I'm not going to set anything on fire." Nodding in approval, the woman gave her a somewhat nervous smile before returning to the kitchen- presumably where she would be safe in the event an explosion _did_occur. Raven didn't blame her. Her very first attempt at alchemy resulted in singed hair and a couple of scorch marks to decorate the walls of her bedroom. Miss Bernadette's concerns were perfectly understandable.

Turning her attention back to the materials before her on the table, she laid the drafting paper before her and grabbed a stump of charcoal, then began to sketch out a circular pattern. "Evan, can you grab a screwdriver? In a minute, I'm going to have you take out all the screws in my left arm," she explained.

Looking enthused to finally be moving on to working with the prosthetics, Evan quickly returned to his room and dug around his toolbox a bit before finding a Philips screwdriver. When he got back to the den, he glanced over Raven's shoulder and felt his mouth drop at the complicated series of lines and elegant curves she had drawn on the paper. "Wait… is that a transmutation circle?"

"That's right," she answered distractedly as she carefully poured a small pile of stump remover over the center of the matrix and placed the lumps of charcoal and matches on top of it. "Now," she turned to Evan with a small smile, "could you remove the screws from my arm?" she held up her left appendage.

Beaming widely, he answered with a pleased, "Sure," and gestured for the two of them to sit down at the table while he went to work. "But you do know that once I do, the rest of your arm will come apart, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't think it should be that hard to put back together again, right?"

Nodding as he did a quick inspection, Evan agreed, "No matter the style, all engineers follow the most basic guidelines and this design doesn't look all that complicated. No offense to your mechanic," he added quickly as he grabbed his screwdriver and began unscrewing her forearm plate.

Managing a small grin, Raven said, "I'm sure she doesn't mind. She wasn't worried so much about how pretty it looked as much as 'Will this hold up with the amount of damage it's sure to take?'"

Raising an eyebrow, Evan asked somewhat distractedly, "You run into trouble a lot?"

Only trouble? Only a lot? "You could say that."

Evan chuckled quietly, and then resumed his work in silence. Raven was aware of Miss Bernadette still hovering nearby in the kitchen with watchful and curious eyes, but paid her little attention. She was much more focused on the boy in front of her, as his hands moved with proficient speed as he took out the small screws one by one. She was so distracted watching him work that she didn't hear Evan as he asked her a question.

"Are you an alchemist?"

"Hmm?" she asked distractedly.

"Do you practice alchemy?" he repeated, not breaking concentration as he added yet another screw to the already heaping pile.

"Um, yeah. I've been studying it since I was young."

"I tried my luck at it once, didn't really like it. I prefer to make things take shape with my own hands." He paused after setting another screw on top of the pile. "Is this okay, or did you want me to take all of them out?"

Raven briefly evaluated his work, being careful not to move her left arm. "No, just the screws holding the outer plates together are fine," she answered, then turned to face the transmutation circle still laid out on the table. "Here we go," she murmured, placing her hand on the outside rim of the circle. Blue sparks danced around the pile of materials at her touch, and she saw Evan and his mother stare in silent awe at the sight from her peripherals. She fought to keep from grinning at their reaction, focusing instead on maintaining the transmutation.

As if thrown into a melting pot, the pieces of charcoal, stump remover, and matches all seemed to blend together into a dark powder, then melded together with the screws. The metal darkened as it combined with the powder and settled on a shade of gunmetal grey as the alchemical sparks fizzled out and faded. Picking one up for examination, Raven nodded approvingly and turned to a still-gaping Evan. "Would you put these back in for me?" she said, snapping him out of his daze.

"Uh, sure," he agreed, taking the screw from her and conducting his own quick inspection. "What exactly did you do to them though?"

"I just adjusted the materials in them. More accurately, I added a few things," she answered as Evan began replacing the screws back in her arms one by one.

Evan raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You added matches, charcoal sticks, and tree stump remover to your screws?"

"Yes and no. I only needed a few key ingredients from each of the items. In the matches, it was the sulfur found in the tips; the stump remover was pretty simple, since it's almost entirely made of potassium nitrate, which was what I was looking for; and the charcoal sticks are pretty straightforward, since all I needed from them was the charcoal," she explained.

"Okay…" Evan said, clearly not understanding any of what she was saying.

It was then that Miss Bernadette chimed in from the kitchen. "Sulfur, potassium nitrate, and charcoal? What would you need those for?"

"Um," Raven chewed the inside of her cheek as she always did when she was nervous. "They're the three key ingredients needed to make gunpowder."

Miss Bernadette blinked in astonishment and Raven saw the boy beside her momentarily freeze. Recovering quickly, Evan returned to his task, though his movements seemed much more cautious. "What would you need gunpowder for?" he asked in a somewhat wary tone.

"Well," Raven began, taking a deep breath, "like you guessed at earlier, I'm close friends with trouble. So, I kind of weaponized my automail, making screws that had gunpowder so I could use them almost like bullets. The last time my arm needed replacing, my mechanic refused to put these screws in, saying it would only encourage me to destroy my automail or go out looking for trouble. Neither of which, I would ever intentionally do," she quickly added as if it would reassure the pair.

Setting his screwdriver aside as he wrapped up his work, his blue-grey eyes widened in astonishment. "Screws… as bullets…?"

"Yes…"

"Well," Evan said decisively, "it's no wonder your mechanic didn't want to put these back in your automail-" he nearly choked on his words. For a while, he sat perfectly still, staring unblinking ahead of him, and Raven was just about to poke him to make sure he hadn't had a heart attack and died when he grabbed fistfuls of his hair and shouted, "OH CRAP! Your mechanic is going to kill me when she finds out about this!"

Raven chewed the inside of her cheek. She hadn't really thought about what sort of consequences could come of her replacing her regular screws with gunpowder-infused screws, or what might happen to Evan if he was to be discovered as the one who had replaced them for her. Winry would likely beat them both to death with a wrench, then yell that them for going behind her back. The dark-haired girl heaved a sigh. "How about this then: _you_be my new mechanic," she offered.

For a moment, he stared unblinking at her with his mouth slighting open. Then, slowly, her words seemed to register in his mind. "You want me to be your mechanic?"

Shrugging, Raven said, "I don't see why not. You clearly know what you're doing and you probably won't try to kill me with a wrench every time I need maintenance. I'll pay you the same as what I'm paying my current mechanic," which frankly, in her opinion, was a bit much, "and I can even help you with the building process if you need. It's all up to you though, if you want the job."

Words seemed to fail him once again as he considered her proposal. After a few long moments of silence, he opened his mouth to answer, only to be interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and closing. "I'm back," a male voice greeted.

Raven's brow furrowed. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, like that of a stranger's she heard in passing. This was stronger though, almost like the feeling she'd gotten when she first saw the color of Evan's eyes, and just as it was back then, her mind practically screamed in frustration as she tried to recall the connection. The screaming stopped when he finally set foot inside the den.

Though he was no longer wearing a uniform, there was no mistaking the dark brown hair and blue-grey eyes that identically matched those of the boy next to her, though these were not nearly as naïve as Evan's. "Captain Neilson," Raven said in surprise.

Blinking as the twenty-something year old military officer caught sight of the girl sitting at his dining table, his eyes flashed in acknowledgement. "Miss Guardel, I believe it was," he responded, as formal as ever.

Nodding, Raven appraised the man with slightly bemused eyes. Even when he wasn't in uniform, Captain James Neilson was still in uniform; he still had the same calm and collected expression on his face, had perfect posture, and even his clothing was crisp. For a man who said he was taking a few days off to relax with his family, he sure looked ready to report to Central Command at a moment's notice.

"Do you two know each other?" Evan chimed, derailing Raven's train of thought.

"We met on a train in Dublith a few days ago," James answered as he drifted toward the kitchen to assist his mother in whatever baking process she was in the middle of. "We talked only briefly."

Evan raised an eyebrow at her. "'Miss Guardel'?"

"My last name," she clarified.

"Ah," he said in understanding. "So James," he called to his older brother, "what did the guys at CC want?"

"Well," the Captain said distractedly as he began thinly slicing the apples Raven had bought, "they're still investigating the Hughes case," she felt her heart clench a bit at that, "and they wanted to ask my opinion on the matter."

"Do you know if they have any leads on who killed him?" Raven asked.

James raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise by her question, but answered, "There are several theories drifting around at the moment. One includes the possibility that the Ishvalan known as Scar is responsible."

Raven shook her head. "That's not possible. Scar specifically targets State Alchemists; to murder Hughes… it's just not his style."

Everyone seemed to pause and gape at her words. Evan was the first to speak. "And… you would know about this guy's killing patterns because…?"

She hesitated. She didn't particularly enjoy flaunting her title and military status and she certainly never revealed the information to anyone unless specifically asked, namely due to the fact that State Alchemists were not exactly revered, having been labeled by the public as the military's lapdogs. However, this was a military family, and they seemed fairly trustworthy, so Raven figured there was no harm in telling them.

Taking a deep breath, she finally answered timidly, "Because I am State Alchemist and I was targeted by him once."

Once again, silence filled the room as her words sunk in. and once again, Evan was the one to break it. "I guess that explains the trouble you said you get into. And the screws."

From in the kitchen, James frowned in contemplation. "I recall back in Dublith around the time we met that there were a pair of State Alchemists conducting some sort of investigation. I assume you were one of them?"

Nodding, she elaborated, "I was there on assignment, the other just showed up for no particular reason," she felt irritation seep into her tone at the last bit.

"Who was the other guy?" Evan questioned.

Holding back a sigh, she responded, "He's known as the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric."

His eyes lit up at Ed's name. "He's the fifteen year old with an automail arm and leg, right?" he asked eagerly. "You know him?"

Miss Bernadette laughed quietly. "Curb your enthusiasm, dear."

"It's fine," Raven assured. "Yes, I know him pretty well. We've been working together for a few months now."

"A joined assignment?" James assumed.

"More like a side project," she answered vaguely. The last thing she needed was one of Central's elite to start sniffing out her trail as she searched for the Philosopher's Stone.

The Captain's question reminded her of one of her own, one that had been on her mind since encountering him on the train. "Captain, do you mind me asking what assignment you were returning from in the South?" she tried to keep her tone nonchalant, as if she were only asking out of politeness and not of actual interest.

He didn't seem convinced of her 'innocence', judging from his suddenly guarded expression and careful eyes. "I'm afraid I can't answer that. Confidential business. I'm sure you understand."

"I suppose..." but that didn't necessarily mean she agreed with it. Or that she had any intention of simply dropping the subject. "I just found it a bit curious that one of Central's elite forces from the Sixteenth Division would be on recon in the South," she tried again.

Still, he was unyielding. "Yes, well, it isn't a matter of much importance, so I don't feel the need to bore you with the details."

Raven frowned, but didn't press the matter any further. If she did, she would only arouse suspicion, which was the last thing she needed at the moment. Instead, she and Evan worked on replacing the screws in her right arm, all the while answering various questions from the mechanic. He asked about her family- which she simply replied that they had all passed away years ago- her escapades as a State Alchemist- to which she could give little information due to the overall complex and confusing nature of the last few missions she'd been on- and lots of questions about her hair.

"Did you go through some kind of rebellious streak that made you get white in your hair?" he asked while putting another gunpowder screw into place.

"Yeah," she lied, "and I'm still going through it." That part was true; Colonel Mustang could definitely attest to it.

"What about your automail?" This time it was the Captain, who had been silently listening from in the kitchen, who asked. "How exactly did that happen?"

She was silent for a moment as she rifled through possible explanations that would seem plausible for someone her age. Much to her surprise, she decided to go with the truth- or at least part of it. "My family was murdered and I was the only one that survived, though just barely. The ones who did it cut my arms off at the elbow, thinking I'd bleed out, but I didn't. I lost a lot of blood, but I lived. A few months later, I underwent surgery and replaced my missing limbs with automail. Recovery was the worst two and a half years of my life, but I made it through." She paused, registering the suddenly darkened mood that filled the room. The others were looking at her pityingly, which she would have despised any other day had she not spent the last day or so pitying herself. "It's okay," she reassured them. "That stuff's not really important; what's important is that I'm still here today."

Miss Bernadette smiled gently. "Yes, I suppose that is the only thing that matters."

The dark haired girl nodded once in agreement. Casting a quick glance at a clock near the kitchen, she nearly gasped at the time. "I'm sorry, but I'd better get going. My friends are going to wonder where I am."

"Just hang on a sec," Evan protested, "I've just got one more screw… and… done!" He set down his screwdriver. "_Now _you may leave," he said teasingly.

She smiled gratefully at the boy. "Thanks again for doing this for me. It was nice meeting you, Miss Bernadette, and nice to see you again, Captain," she directed at each respective member of the Neilson family.

The military officer smiled gently at her. "Good to see you as well, Miss Guardel. Be careful out there."

Nodding absent-mindedly, she started for the door with Evan following closely behind her. Opening it, she was halfway out of the threshold when Miss Bernadette called, "Hold on a moment!"

Pausing, Raven turned around to see the woman rushing toward her with a bag. "Here," Miss Bernadette smiled as she offered Raven her grocery bag. Upon taking it, she noted that the bottom of the bag felt warm and emitted a sweet and sugary smell. "I saw that most of your apples were bruised, so I cut up the usable bits and baked you an apple pie."

The dark-haired girl returned the woman's smile with one of her own. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate everything you've done for me. Both of you," she deliberately glanced at Evan standing beside her.

A faint blush spread over the boy's face. "It was no problem, really," he reassured her. "Let me know when you need a tune-up or maintenance."

"I wrote our phone number down so you can call us whenever you need to," his mother added.

Uttering another word of thanks, Raven bid the Nielson family farewell and turned back toward the street. She was halfway across the lane when a shout from behind startled her.

"I'll do it!"

Pausing mid step, she glanced over her shoulder to see Evan grinning determinedly at her. "I'll be your mechanic!"

Raven felt the corners of her mouth turn up. "I'll keep you posted! See you soon, Evan!"

As she continued down the walk, she still felt her lips formed in a smile, though it was no longer because of her encounter with the Neilson family. It was because for a moment, however short, she had forgotten to be sad. _That stupid prince had the right idea after all_. She shook her head, still grinning, and continued walking.


	23. Questions Arise

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or any of its characters.**

**Sorry if the past couple chapters seem kind of like filler, but I can promise that the next one is when things really heat up again, and there will be more Ling/Raven interaction in upcoming chapters. Last day of school is tomorrow, and my graduation present that I got myself are tickets to Phoenix ComicCon 2012! First ever convention! So excited! Also, since school is pretty much over with, updates will probably come a lot sooner, so stay tuned! Hope you all enjoy your summers and hope to see/hear from you soon!**

**Also, while I was roaming YouTube, I found a couple of amazing FMA AMVs that I'd like to share with you, just because I think great work deserves recognition. WARNING, some may contain spoilers and one of them will undoubtedly make you cry. Enjoy!**

**W E ' R E E M P T Y by viinurify  
>Traumerei AMV by bestmiscofalltime (this one will probably make you cry, so be warned!)<br>/BOOM! This is fail whale. by 11chiiyochan  
>AMV - From The Ashes (Dark Moon) by vyrthranatrax<br>Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood AMV (This is War - 30 seconds to mars) by cloudzafiro**

* * *

><p>Quietly slipping through the door into the hotel room, Raven was convinced the room was empty and was about to turn back out and check if the Elrics were in when out of seemingly thin air, Winry materialized in front of her. Judging from the hard set of her mouth, eyebrows drawn together, and arms crossed over her chest, she was not in a good mood. Raven quickly dismissed the idea of informing the girl of the fact that she had acquired a new automail mechanic, afraid that Winry might actually beat her to death with a wrench.<p>

"_Where have you been_?" she emphasized each word hotly. "You said you were going out to get breakfast!" she waved Raven's note in front of her face. "What kind of breakfast trip takes _four hours_?" she demanded.

Scratching the back of her head embarrassedly, Raven lamely replied, "A long one?"

If jaws could hit the floor, Winry's certainly did. "That's all you have to say for yourself? Where have you been?" She paused and sniffed the air. "And what's that smell?" her tone eased up somewhat at the warm and fragrant scent filling the room.

Digging to the bottom of her bag, Raven held up a pan in display. "It's apple pie. When I went out to get breakfast this morning, I picked up a few apples, but I ran into someone and they got bruised up a bit. So we went back to his house and his mom made an apple pie out of them as sort of an apology," she explained.

Winry's eyes turned wistful at the mention of the fruit pie. "I've been teaching myself how to make apple pie, you know, because Miss Gracia made Ed, Al, and I one once. I wanted to get good enough that maybe Mister Hughes..." she trailed off and averted her eyes as they gleamed with unshed tears.

Raven bit the inside of her cheek, wishing she hadn't even mentioned the pie. She still had much to learn about comforting people in times of misfortune- herself included- but she knew that once a person was on the verge of tears, it was best to tread carefully. She could try changing the subject and inform the girl that she had found a new mechanic for her arms, but that may just make her angry. Humor just seemed inappropriate given the situation, so Raven settled for a safer path. "Here," she held out the pie in offering, "have a piece."

Blinking her eyes clear, Winry gave a small smile and took the dish from Raven's hands. She stared at it with hazy eyes, and for a moment Raven thought she may have done the wrong thing when Winry's smile grew wider. "Do I have to share it?" she asked jokingly.

The corners of Raven's mouth twitched upward. If Winry was capable of humor, then she must have done something right. "That's up to you," Raven replied, "though Ed probably wouldn't be too happy about it."

"Speaking of Ed," Winry began, setting the pie on the night table and rubbing her eyes clear of any possible traces of saltwater. "You should probably go check in with him and Al. I'm sure they've been wondering about you."

"Yeah," Raven rubbed her shoulder awkwardly. "You're probably right. And knowing Ed, he's going to kill me after he finds out I was gone for four hours and didn't even come back with breakfast," she added as she turned about and headed for the door.

Winry's light laughter chimed quietly behind her. "If you tell him about the pie, I'm sure he'll forgive you. He is a man you know- always thinks with his stomach."

Holding her tongue at the word "man," Raven bid the other girl farewell before going off to face the wrath of the pipsqueak next door.

Upon entering the Elrics' room without so much as a knock, Raven was somewhat surprised to see the blonde alchemist sitting alone on the couch, reviewing one of his pocket notebooks and looking more at ease than she'd seen in days. That quickly changed as soon as he looked up from his book and caught sight of her. As she had suspected, Edward wasn't overly pleased with Raven's recurring series of disappearing acts. They hadn't spoken to each other since early the previous day after they arrived in Central, and they still didn't seem to have much to discuss concerning the past few days. Of course, with the exception of reprimanding her for spending the entire morning until noon 'frolicking around Central' and worrying Alphonse enough that he went out to search for her.

His anger and annoyance- though justified- kindled a spark of irritation within Raven. Sure, she hadn't been making the wisest decisions lately, but was it necessary for him to make it sound as if she had zero regard for any of them?

For what felt like the millionth time that day, she nearly sighed, "I'm sorry for worrying you. I'll be sure to check in with you guys the next time I decide to do something."

Edward frowned deeply. "Geez, you make me sound like I'm your mother or something."

"That'd be a nice change of pace," Raven said as she seated herself on the armchair positioned opposite him, a mocking grin playing at her lips. "Especially considering I'm stuck babysitting you and Al half the time."

A muscle in Edward's jaw twitched in agitation. "Shut up!" he snapped. "Who asked you anyway?"

Raven grinned. "You've gotten significantly better at comebacks, Ed," she teased, "because I am simply speechless."

"Good!" the blonde said crossly. "'Cause I was sick of your blabbering."

She raised a mocking eyebrow at that, but said nothing. Instead, she fell back against the chair and threw her legs over the armrest, arranging herself into a comfortable position as she stared blankly up at the ceiling for several long minutes. After tracing imaginary patterns in the plaster for a while, she grew bored with the tedium. She was in no hurry to leave and return to her room, but the uncomfortable silence filling the room was just that- uncomfortable. Striking up a conversation seemed somewhat inappropriate however, given that Ed was undoubtedly still irritated with her and she didn't wish to push her luck by saying something else that would only further anger him.

So, she settled for a simple request. "Hey, Ed? Do you mind if I looked through your alchemical notes?"

Glancing up at her over the open book he held in his hands- which ironically enough was entitled 'Advanced Alchemy'- he raised an eyebrow at her. "Why would you want to read my notes?" he asked, somewhat surprised at her question.

She shrugged. "Partly for entertainment purposes, and partly to compare findings. Don't worry, I'm not going to steal any of the information you've collected," she quickly reassured.

"I'm not too worried about that," Ed said lightly. "And actually, I was thinking about asking if I could look at your notes too. Not right now, just at some point in time."

Again, she shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure. I don't mind."

Rifling through the stack of notebooks and other various sized books, Edward handed her a small leather bound notebook slightly larger than the size of her hand. Murmuring a quick thanks, she immersed herself in the pages. He had an interesting way of coding his notes, having disguised them to appear as a travel log, but Raven didn't think it would be overly difficult to crack. After decrypting Tim Marcoh's research notes on the Philosopher's Stone, she doubted she would ever see decoding someone else's alchemy notes as difficult ever again.

The two of them sat in near-silence for what felt like hours, the only sounds coming from the idle turning of pages or the buzzing of the fan above their heads. It was monotonous enough to make anyone drowsy, which Raven could slow feel the effects of seeping into her bones and making her eyelids droop. Sooner than she expected, she found her thoughts directed at anything other than the book in front of her, and none of them even remotely related to alchemy. _When is Alphonse coming back? When should I tell Winry about Evan? How do I investigate his brother, the Captain, without getting caught? What ever happened to Ling? Is Scar still in Central hunting down State Alchemists?_Too many questions filled her head at once that she felt as if her brain would explode.

Finding fatigue once again unexpectedly creeping up on her again, Raven rubbed her eyes as if she could force them to remain open. It didn't help. In fact, it only reminded her of the protests her eyes were making to convince her to sleep. So far, they were putting up a good argument. She had a difficult time decrypting line after line of Edward's log, which had more to do with deciphering his spiky handwriting than what was actually written. After a while, she felt if she stared at a page for too long her eyes would dry out to the same parchment upon which she was reading from. That, coupled with her lack of sleep the previous night was enough to convince her that a few minutes of rest wouldn't kill her.

Laying the notebook over her eyes, she stared fixedly at a single ink spot on the page she was currently flipped open to, hoping it might dull her mind into sleep. After only a handful of minutes, Raven felt her lids begin to drift closed as sleep pulled at the edges of her conscious when a loud crash made her jump out of her skin and fall out of her chair. She tried not to glare at the suit of armor that had nearly thrown the door off its hinges and caused her heart to momentarily stop beating.

"Brother!" Al's anxious voice shouted as he quickly crossed the room to where his older sibling was also sprawled out on the floor. "Raven, good, you're here too!" he said somewhat breathlessly, though how a suit of armor that didn't technically need to breathe was winded, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that given his frantic tone and sudden dramatic entrance, he didn't bear good news.

Raven frowned, pulling herself up from the floor. "What's going on, Al?" she questioned.

"Take a look at this," he replied, handing her the day's edition of the _Central Gazette_.

Taking it from him and plopping herself down next to Edward so the both of them could view it, her eyes lazily skimmed the bolded headlines on the front page. She was about to directly ask the younger Elric what exactly he was fussing about so much when she nearly smacked herself for not noticing.

Covering almost the entire front page was an article with a large picture of the Second Lieutenant Maria Ross.

Along with the words 'Lt. Maria Ross found to be the culprit in Gen. Hughes' murder'.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean you want me to stay behind?" Raven snapped.<p>

"Exactly that!" Alphonse shouted right back.

Raven crossed her arms and scowled at the suit of armor. After skimming through the newspaper article, it had been decided that the Elrics would head over to Central Command and investigate the matter further. While they learned the full details of the case against Lieutenant Ross, Raven was to remain at the hotel with Winry and wait for the brothers to return. Needless to say, this arrangement didn't sit too well with the black-haired girl.

"Come on!" she complained. "Give me one good reason why I should stay behind," she demanded.

Putting his hands on his hips, Alphonse said, "While I was out looking for you, I happened to run into Lieutenant Hawkeye. Wanna take a guess what she told me?" Raven felt her face flush in anger and embarrassment as he continued, "She said you confronted the Colonel and punched him in the stomach. How are you going to react when you face him again?"

She hesitated. Did she want to sit quietly in a dark room while the Elrics possibly found out the truth behind Hughes' murder? Definitely not. But she liked the prospect of encountering Mustang again even less.

Sighing, she admitted, "Alright, so I hit the guy. That doesn't mean I'm completely incapable of self-restraint!"

Edward's eyebrows shot up as he looked at the girl with what appeared to be respect. "You actually punched the Colonel?"

"Don't go encouraging her, Brother!" Al reprimanded.

Holding his hands up in surrender, he responded, "I'm not! I mean, yeah, I'll admit, there are plenty of times I want to sock Mustang in the jaw, but acting on it… I don't know whether to be impressed or call you an idiot."

Frowning, Raven said, "I get it: it was a dumb thing for me to do. But like I said, that doesn't mean that it'll happen again," she argued.

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Raven could almost see the gears turning in Edward's head as he contemplated his options. It wasn't long before he said decisively, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to agree with Al on this one. I don't care if you can handle yourself around Mustang right now," he said quickly in response to her open mouth that was ready to argue. "I want you to stay here for Winry's sake."

That one surprised her. "Where did that come from?" she asked, confused.

It was a while before Ed answered, "She's always waiting alone for us, worrying and thinking about the worst possible scenario. Maybe if she had some company… especially right now…"

_He isn't making me stay behind for his sake, Mustang's sake, or even my own sake_, she thought with a slight internal smile. _He's doing it all for her. He really does care._

Letting out a long breath, Raven conceded, "Alright. I'll stay here with Winry."

His expression seemed to lighten somewhat at that. "Thank you," he said before turned around and heading for the door.

Following closely behind his older brother, Alphonse reassured over his shoulder, "We'll be back soon."

"Just be careful," she called after them, standing out in the middle of the hallway and watching the two of them disappear around the corner.

As soon as they were out of sight, she let loose a tired sigh and glanced at the closed door of her shared room with Winry. She was sorely tempted to trail them and find out the exact details of the case being made against Lieutenant Ross, but the last look Ed had given her made her pause. Even in the short time Raven had gotten to know the Rockbell girl, she could name at least ten instances in which they had left Winry to sit and wait for them to come back, without even knowing for certain that they _would_come back. She was owed this much at least.

As she entered her room though, Raven couldn't help but wonder how Winry could possibly stand it. Not necessarily the plaguing worries, but the waiting itself. Being one of science, Raven liked to follow its strict rules, and there was one in particular that suited her well. An object in motion stays in motion. In her most basic form, that was exactly what she was: a moving object. She was not meant to simply stop and take a break at any given time. But for now- for the sake of a friend- all she could do was wait.

* * *

><p>It was agonizing. She managed to stay awake for two more hours before forcing herself to go to sleep. She felt that she would go mad pacing back and forth across the room- which she had done for forty minutes straight- with Winry's eyes following her like a pendulum. Reading wasn't an option either, as she could barely even concentrate on a single word and never made it past the first page. So, she resorted to resting, which was the last thing she wanted to be doing in the event that the Elrics came back with some sort of development.<p>

As it so happened, she was shaken awake by a grim-looking Winry with Ed and Al hovering over her shoulder, wearing similar expressions. At that moment, she didn't even care that she had wasted the rest of the day sleeping until noon the next day.

Because Maria Ross was dead.

As the brothers took turns recalling the events of the previous night- how they had encountered Lieutenant Ross along with some suit of armor named Barry the Chopper and surprisingly Ling escaping through the city streets, how Ross had run away from them, and they had eventually caught up with her only to find a severely burned corpse with Colonel Mustang standing over it- Raven felt her stomach knot itself tighter and tighter. She understood that Mustang would hold a grudge against the one he believed to have murdered Hughes, but to go so far… Edward told her that the body was in ruins and practically unidentifiable, save for the little dental records that were able to be scavenged. It made her sick to think that the Colonel was capable of such a ruthless act, and she suddenly found herself grateful that she did not accompany the Elrics- she would not have been able to restrain herself from punching the man again.

There were a few odd points in the story though, like the strange Barry the Chopper character, who Alphonse claimed to be like him in the fact that he was merely a soul alchemically bonded to a suit of armor. Apparently he had been a serial killer when he had had a normal body before being sentenced to death and then slapped into a metal shell. He was certainly questionable, which made Raven curious as to why Ross had been found with him in the first place. According to Al, the Second Lieutenant and Barry the Chopper had met during the incident at the Fifth Laboratory, but what could have possessed the woman to team up with someone like him? Desperation? It was possible, but the situation just didn't completely add up, no matter what angle Raven looked at it.

And then there was Ling. Where had he been, and how on earth did he end up running around Central with a serial killer and an escaped convict? He must have had some idea as to who he was with and what was going on, Raven figured, but how he had come to be with them in the first place was another question entirely. How had he encountered the strange duo, and why had he run off with them? If he was still looking for answers concerning immortality, it made sense that he would ask multiple sources, but a serial killer? From what Al had told her, Barry the Chopper was completely ignorant as to how he came to be a soul bonded to a suit of armor, and had no interest in uncovering the truth behind it anyway. And Ross… as far as Raven knew, the woman had no knowledge of alchemy or the Philosopher's Stone save for some minor details about the Fifth Laboratory and the devastating requirement to create a Stone. Neither of these people seemed to have any helpful information that would further Ling's goal, so what was the Xingese prince doing with them?

More importantly, where was he now?

As she mulled over this and many other questions, there came a loud knocking at the door, which seemed abnormally loud in the crushing silence of the room and battered Raven's eardrums. Frowning, Ed laboriously hauled himself up off the couch and trudged over to the door. "Yeah, who is it?" he asked dryly as he pulled the door open. "What do you-"

A loud crash startled the remaining three out of their daze. Turning to see what all the commotion was about, Raven's jaw dropped when she saw Armstrong the Musclehead standing outside the door with his fist raised and Edward sprawled out on the ground in the hallway. Rubbing his right arm- which she guessed he had raised to defend himself- he gaped at the military officer with wide eyes. "Major! What the hell did you do that for?" Ed shouted.

The man loomed threateningly over the young alchemist "You listen to me, Edward Elric," Armstrong said menacingly, and Raven could hear the blonde's strangled gulp from where she still stood rooted in place by the doorway in shock. Picking him up by the back of his collar, the Major fiddled with Ed's automail arm. "Hmm, this is no good, no good at all. Your automail seems to be broken."

Ed blinked uncomprehendingly. "Um, okay," he said hesitantly, no doubt agreeing with him just to get the Major to release him.

It seemed to work, as the Major carefully set Edward back on his feet. "Yes, this is a serious situation indeed. You'll have to repair it at once," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "There's no time to waste! Allow me to escort you to Risembool for repairs!" he declared.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Ed asked nervously, "Uh, Major? What's up?"

Gathering around Raven by the door, Winry and Alphonse stuck their heads out into the hallway with confused expressions. "What was that?" Winry asked, turning to Raven for an explanation that she wasn't entirely sure she could accurately give. She was still just as confused by the situation as everyone else.

"Apparently Ed's going back to Risembool to fix his broken automail," Raven offered, though it sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Really?" Al piped up. "You're going back home?"

Raising his hands in the universal 'I have no idea what's going on' gesture, Ed answered, "I don't know what he's talking about, Al."

As if just noticing their presence, Armstrong marched toward the gaping audience in the doorway, stopping to stand mere inches away from the suit of armor. "And you, Alphonse Elric," the Major rumbled, "you would stand out too much, so you will remain here in Central." His tone gave no room for argument.

"Um, okay," Al quickly agreed.

Now the man turned to Raven and gave her the same threatening no-nonsense expression he had given the brothers. "The same goes for you, Raven Guardel. With your appearance, you would only attract unwanted attention, so you too will stay behind with Alphonse."

Squirming a bit under his gaze and uncomfortable proximity, Raven squeaked, "Yeah, sure. I'll do that."

Nodding in approval, Armstrong said decisively, "Good. Alright now," he grabbed Edward by the back of his collar again and half-dragged the boy down the hallway. "We need to make arrangements for transportation right away! Come along, Edward!" he declared as if the blonde had any choice in the matter.

As the two disappeared from sight, a lingering sense of complete confusion and astonishment remained with the three adolescents. "Uh, what just happened?" Winry asked.

Shaking her head slowly, Raven let out a long and low breath. "I have no clue."

* * *

><p>Despite the complete disarray that her mind was in- a big thanks to Major Armstrong for that- Raven knew there was work to be done. After sleeping half of the day away, she was ready to do something she had been putting off ever since arriving in Central: uncover the truth of Captain James Neilson's mission in the south.<p>

It was an easy task to make her way through Central Command and find the records department where all official documents were kept, but not so simple was the task of acquiring the file she needed.

"Ma'am, I'm a State Alchemist, which is a rank equivalent to that of a Major. How am I not authorized access to a Captain's records?" she argued to the woman sitting behind the front desk.

Sighing tiredly, the woman pushed her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose as she replied, "Look, miss, I really wish I could help you, but to gain access to the files of divisions thirty or lower, you must either work in the archives or carry a rank of Colonel or higher."

Frowning, Raven retaliated, "I just need to take a quick peek at one little file. Can't you make an exception this one time?"

The woman's dark blue eyes hardened. "I'm sorry, but no exceptions. If that's all you're here for, then please be on your way." She paused, her eyes glancing over Raven's shoulder. "Sheska! Would you mind taking over for me? Colonel Douglas needs me in his office to go over the recent case."

Raven felt her eyebrows shoot up as she saw none other than the glasses-clad ex-librarian she and the Elrics had met not too long ago come walking up the hall, carrying a small stack of what appeared to be encyclopedias on Amestris's military history. The woman paused upon catching sight of Raven, then broke out in a friendly smile. "Hi there! Long time, no see, huh? Miss Guardel, right?"

"Just Raven," the girl replied, feeling the corners of her mouth tug upward in a returned grin.

The other woman's eyes narrowed as they flitted suspiciously between Raven and Sheska. "Miss Guardel was just leaving," she said forcefully, turning her stony gaze on Sheska. "Be sure she finds her way out," she warned before giving the dark-haired girl one last icy look and disappearing down the hall.

Sheska blinked in confusion. "What was that all about?" she inquired.

"I came looking for a mission record, but apparently I'm not allowed access to it," Raven replied with a weary sigh. "She said only someone who works in the department or someone with a Colonel rank or higher can see it."

Fidgeting with her handful of books, Sheska glanced about nervously to make sure the two of them were alone. When she confirmed that no one was within listening distance, she quietly offered, "If it's that important to you, I can get you access to whatever it is you're looking for."

A wide and grateful smile stretched its way across Raven's face. "Thank you so much! I would really appreciate it, Sheska!" she fought to keep her voice at an inconspicuous level as well as the urge to hug the suddenly flustered looking woman in front of her.

"Oh, um, it's no problem, really," Sheska blushed in embarrassment at the girl's outburst. "We just need to be careful; no one can find out that I let you back with me, alright?" she instructed as she set her handful of books atop the front desk, fished a key out of her uniform pocket, and led Raven to a door behind the desk. Double checking to make sure the two of them were alone, Sheska unlocked the door and ushered Raven inside.

"What kind of file are you looking for exactly?" Sheska asked. Quickly giving her a description with as much detail as she could from the little she knew about it, Sheska informed her that they would probably find what she was looking for in the mission records room. After leading her down a series of hallways, she came to a stop outside one of the many doors that lined the hall and went inside. Shelf after shelf of files and boxes were arranged in an almost maze-like pattern inside the room, though Sheska navigated through them like a professional, which, Raven guess, she was at this point. Slowing her pace as she scanned the shelves, Sheska finally came to a halt and plucked a relatively thin folder off the shelf. Turning around, she handed it to a very eager-looking Raven. "This should be it."

Grinning, Raven said, "Thanks so much Sheska! This shouldn't take me too long; I just need to look over it quickly."

"There's a worktable with a lamp over in the corner there," the bespectacled woman offered helpfully. "I'll keep watch by the door. Take as much time as you need," she said, disappearing back toward the doorway while Raven wound her way over to the table. She settled into her chair and glanced at the file entitled: Cpt. J. Neilson, South City. _Maybe I can finally get some straight answers_, Raven thought mildly as she opened the folder and began to read.

After pouring over page after page in the folder, Raven was about ready to smack her head against the table in sheer frustration. Five days' worth of notes and documentation on the Captain's assignment in the south, and absolutely nothing seemed relevant in any way. 'Town is isolated with relatively few populates, most of which are miners.' Seems perfectly ordinary for a mining town, so why is _this_particular military officer there to investigate? 'Statements from miners claim there to be tremors underground, occurring randomly at any hour of day.' Again, not uncommon for a mining area to experience small earthquakes, and it wasn't as if said tremors occurred on a timed system. 'Entered mine, found a few tunnels collapsed.' Though it wasn't necessarily a regular occurrence, collapsing tunnels were to be expected in any mine, especially one experiencing earthquakes.

'Conclusion: nothing abnormal to report. Tremors ceased after regular occurrences over the course of ten days.'

"Then why the hell were you there to begin with?" Raven shouted at the papers.

"Miss Guardel?" a small voice squeaked. Raven glanced over her shoulder to see Sheska's head poking through the open doorway, a slightly worried expression on her face. She had every right to be worried; Raven had asked her to sneak the files out of the official records department, which is generally frowned upon, but since Raven herself wasn't allowed access to them, she'd had to resort to this. If they were caught, it was possible that Sheska could loose her job, which was why Raven had to work quickly and quietly, but it was difficult for her to keep from screaming out at the file that- if anything- was giving her more questions than answers. "Is everything alright?" she asked hesitantly.

Sighing, Raven muttered a quick apology. "I'm done here," she said, piling the documents back together in order and slapping the folder closed. Gathering up her items, she rose from her chair and pushed it back underneath the desk, making sure to erase all possible signs of her presence. She managed a grateful smile at the mousy-haired woman as she handed her the manila folder. "Thank you so much for your help, Sheska. You really have no idea how much this means to me."

Returning her smile, Sheska replied cheerfully, "I'm just glad I could help you."

Rummaging though her pockets, Raven produced her checkbook and quickly wrote out a sum before ripping the check out and handing it to the woman. "This is for your trouble," she said as she began to make her way down the hall.

Matching her stride, Sheska glanced at the amount written on the slip of paper and Raven could see the woman's eyes grow to the size of baseballs. "I- I can't possibly accept this!" she stammered.

"Sheska, you risked your job to do this for me," Raven reminded her. "This is the least I can do for putting you in that kind of position."

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. "I just hope that you found what you were looking for. You seemed kind of frustrated after reading through the file."

Raven tapped her chin thoughtfully. "In a way, I suppose I found exactly what I was looking for by not finding it at all," she murmured, the gears turning in her head as she mulled over the facts.

Sheska's face formed a question mark. "Huh?" she asked, not following the younger girl's train of thought.

Suddenly breaking out in a grin, Raven quickened her pace, breaking out in a run as she made her way for the exit. "Thank you, Sheska!" she called over her shoulder before disappearing out the door, leaving behind a very confused woman in her wake.

* * *

><p><em>He's<em> _covering his tracks, and the military is helping him do it_, Raven mused lightly as she wound her way through the streets away from Central Command. Captain James Neilson had been much too secretive when Raven had inquired about his job in the south, and when she discovered in his report that it had been a simple survey and investigation, she knew that he had lied. If he had been sent on assignment to carry out such a mediocre task and report nothing of relevance, then why didn't he simply say so when she had asked him personally? The man obviously had something to hide, but she would have to investigate further to uncover the exact details. Though, she though with a frown, from this point on, it would not be as smooth and easygoing as this time. If she was correct in assuming that the military was deliberately keeping information out of official records, then there would almost definitely be security measures in place for someone who came snooping around. _I'll cross that bridge when I get to it_, she affirmed. _Right now, I've got bigger things to worry about._

By the time she arrived back at the hotel it was nearly five in the afternoon, though Raven wasn't feeling any of the drowsy effects of the day's closing that usually settled upon her at this time of day. She didn't know whether it stemmed from her oversleeping or her most recent discovery, though she guessed that both probably had equal blame.

Marching up the flight of stairs and down the hall, Raven figured that Alphonse and Winry had made camp in the girls' room, so she went to their door and rapped her knuckles on the door before swinging it open. "I'm back," she announced as she crossed the threshold into the room. "Have you heard any news from Ed-" her voice died in her throat as her mind finally processed the scene in front of her. Alphonse was seated on the couch facing one of the beds, his elbows resting on his knees as he leaned forward in interest. Next to him sat Winry with an equal look of intrigue and slight awe written on her face. Both of them looked up at Raven with surprise upon her entry, as did the person whom they had until moments ago been focusing their attention on. Across from them, sitting cross-legged on the bed with a calm expression on his face was none other than…

"L-Ling?" she stuttered. The prince stared at her impassively, his face not betraying anything. "Where have you been these past two days?"

"Jail," he deadpanned.

Raven felt her stomach drop. "Why were you in jail?"

"Because even though I have a visa, as a visiting foreigner, I'm not allowed to be out roaming the streets alone after nightfall. They caught me the day we rolled into Central and had me locked up overnight."

Now her insides were twisting with guilt. She had known that leaving Ling on his own that night may produce some nasty results, but this... she never expected that he'd be _tossed in jail_. It was her fault that he'd spent the night in a cell- both of them clearly knew this to be true.

"I-" she began, but fell short. How did one apologize for something like this? A simple 'sorry' definitely wouldn't cut it. Unfortunately, it was all she could come up with at the moment. "I'm sorry," she lowered her head. "I never should have reacted the way I did, and I never should have ditched you. I'm just... really sorry about everything."

His face lost some of its seriousness, though his eyes remained unreadable. "I'm willing to forgive you… if you can make it up to me." He put a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "I know! You can order me unlimited room service!"

_Geez, Winry was right. Guys really do think with their stomachs._"There might be some apple pie around here somewhere…" she trailed off as her eyes scanned the room for the desert.

"Yeah, I kind of already ate that," Ling said sheepishly.

She wanted to point out that last she had checked, there were at least five possible slices yet to be cut from the pie, but then remembered she was dealing with someone with a steel stomach. He probably could have eaten two pies by himself and still be starving. Raven sighed in defeat. "I'll call room service."

"Actually," Alphonse interrupted, "you might want to sit down. Ling has some important information that I think you'll want to hear."

Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, she complied and seated herself on the bed next to Ling, ignoring the twisting in her gut as she did so. Swallowing past her guilt, she openly asked, "So what's going on?"

Ling immediately launched into an explanation of the past few days' events; how Maria Ross was actually innocent and was currently on her way to Xing where she would go into hiding for at least the next few months, how the Colonel had been the one to instigate the entire operation of her faked death as well as dragging Edward out of the city- though that part was mainly just to 'get the hot-tempered kid out of his hair'. He also explained that he had temporarily teamed up with Barry the Chopper in order to escape prison and find the secret behind alchemical bonding of a soul to a suit of armor. Raven kept silent through most of the explanation, interrupting every once in a while to ask questions, but fell strangely silent as soon as Ling mentioned breaking out of jail.

Sighing a bit, Ling guessed where her thoughts were dwelling, "You know... I wasn't arrested because of you. It's not your fault."

Even before he finished speaking, Raven was shaking her head. "That's just it though, it _is_my fault. I'm the one who left you standing out in the middle of the street to get caught by the military."

Scratching the back of his head, Ling said lightly, "What I meant to say was, I wasn't arrested for being out on my own. It was because I don't have a visa."

The room was silent as he let his words sink in. _Didn't. Have. A. Visa?_

"_You jerk_!" she shouted, leaping up from the bed and knocking Ling over in the process. Pointing an accusatory finger at him, she continued, "Why would you convince me I'm the one who got you thrown in jail? To get back at me? You- just- you- arg!" she vented.

Holding his hands up in surrender, he held back a grin as he responded calmly, "I just wanted to see how you'd react. No harm intended."

Raven blanched. "'No harm intended'? You got me worked up and worried for nothing!" she shouted.

A slow smile spread its way across Ling's face, making her instantly wary. "Aww, Rae, you do care!" he leapt up from the bed and threw his arms around her neck in a tight hug.

A faint blush colored her cheeks both from the close proximity and at the meaning of his words. It didn't help that there was an audience of Winry and Alphonse who were watching with varied degrees of amusement. Gritting her teeth, she pried the Xingese prince off of her. "Whatever," she huffed irritably. "You're still a jerk."

Despite her tone and insult, Ling grinned, and Raven could almost see his thoughts mirrored in his dark eyes. _He may be a jerk, but he's a smart jerk. _


	24. Trails Of Blood

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. It's called _FanFiction _for a reason.**

**I had to laugh at this, because as I sat finishing up this chapter, I was eating orange chicken from a brand called 'Ling's'. No joke. I laughed so hard at this, that my mom gave me weird looks for the rest of the night, even after I told her about it (I made her watch Brotherhood, so she knows what I'm talking about). Ah, good times, good times.**

**By the way- this is completely unrelated, but- TOONAMI IS BACK! Hells yes! I didn't even know that they dubbed Deadman Wonderland! Cartoon Network has redeemed itself in my mind. That's all, sorry for the gush/rant. And now back to what you came for: chapter 24!**

* * *

><p>It was several long minutes before Alphonse finally spoke up. "So Ling, is there anything else that you can tell us about what the Colonel's planning?"<p>

"Well," the prince began, settling back into his seat on the bed, "this piece of info's supposed to be confidential, but Barry told me that the Colonel's got a plan to smoke out some military guys he's been after. The ones from the Fifth somethingorother."

Raven bit her lip. "The Fifth Laboratory," she finished quietly. She had hoped that they were finally done with that business ever since she discovered that the ones operating the lab were allowing criminals and murders to have a second chance at life. It was because of these people that she'd had to face her brother's killer, which was something she'd always dreaming of doing- extracting revenge- but also terrified- that she would have to face the murderer alone. And now, she was faced with a similar situation: she was eager to beat the living hell out of the people that allowed Slicer and his brother to live, but she didn't want to involve herself in the matter if the consequences landed her and someone else in the hospital just as they did during the Lab Five incident.

Luckily for her, Alphonse was quick to decide. "I've got to find them. This could lead us straight to the person who killed Lieutenant Hughes," he said, rising to his feet.

Before she was even conscious of it, Raven felt her own feet guide her over to the younger Elric brother. "I'm going with you," she stated, her tone leaving no room for argument. "I don't care if Mustang is there or not, if there's a chance we can find Hughes' murderer, I don't intend to miss out on it."

"Alright," Al hesitantly agreed. "We'd better get going before we miss them." He started toward the door with Raven trailing closely behind.

"Hey! Not so fast!" Ling jumped up from the bed after them, looking pleadingly at Al. "Tell me your secret first! Barry told me you would!"

"I'll tell you when I get back, okay?" the younger Elric promised.

Ling's expression fell. "Oh come on! That's so unfair!" he whined.

Raven sighed at the prince's antics. "We'll be back soon; you can get your answers then." She started back toward the door.

"Wait," Ling laid a hand on Raven's shoulder, his expression wary. "Will you be alright doing this?" he asked in a low, quiet tone. "You aren't going to have another... attack, are you?"

Raven raised an impressed eyebrow at the Xingese prince. "I'm surprised you actually remembered that," she responded in an equally quiet tone, not wanting to draw either Alphonse or Winry's attention.

The corners of Ling's mouth turned down at the memory. "Witnessing someone nearly cough up their internal organs is a surprisingly memorable experience- not nearly as forgettable as one might think."

Biting her lip, Raven glanced at Winry and Al, who looked far too distracted to listen in on her conversation with Ling. She only hoped it stayed that way. "What happened in Rush Valley was an anomaly, a random occurrence. It'll be a while before _that_ starts occurring regularly. I'll be fine for now."

"You're sure?" Ling insisted.

"Raven, are you ready to go?" Al asked patiently, a feat that she doubted his brother or even she would be capable of in the given situation.

Taking a deep breath, the corner of Raven's mouth twitched up in a reassuring half smile. "Trust me, I'll be okay. I'll be back in time for room service," she promised.

Ling's head perked up a bit at the mention of room service. "I'll hold you to that, you know."

"Only because you know I have to pay," she said wryly, casting one last glance at the prince over her shoulder as she followed Alphonse down the hallway.

She was already out of earshot when the Xingese prince murmured, "Because you'd better come back alive."

* * *

><p>It took longer than anticipated to locate Mustang and his team, but the sound of gunshots booming through the air was enough of a telltale sign. After following their echo for a good twenty minutes, Al and Raven caught sight of an entirely black-clad man sprinting down the street toward a vaguely familiar black car. As suspicious as it may have appeared, Raven had a sinking feeling she knew who was behind the curtain.<p>

Sure enough, as soon as they got within ten feet of the vehicle, Raven resisted the urge to frown at the serious face of Colonel Roy Mustang sitting behind the wheel. He talked briefly with the man in black- whose voice revealed him to be Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc- before catching sight of the armored boy and dark haired girl.

Keeping her tone level, Raven asked, "Are you after Hughes' murderer?"

The Colonel's dark orbs flitted between the two young alchemists, clearly reading the determination in their eyes. "You in?" he offered.

Nodding, Al spoke for the two of them. "Yeah."

Taking a deep breath, Mustang nodded toward the back seat. "Get in."

That was all the convincing either of them needed. Without further prompting, they piled in one by one into the back seat of the vehicle, Havoc and Raven pressed against the side doors while Alphonse took up most of the middle space. Raven was about to suggest someone climb into the passenger seat when she noted it was already occupied by Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. As Mustang sped off down the road, she saw that he was trailing what appeared to be a suit of armor with an enormous meat cleaver clutched in his grip- Barry the Chopper, Alphonse supplied. _Looks like he's got everyone in on this_, she mused lightly.

After giving the new additions a brief rundown of the plan, the Colonel pushed down on the accelerator so that he was side by side with Barry. "Don't let him get away," he warned.

The suit of armor laughed. "He ain't goin' nowhere," he reassured.

Furrowing her brow, Raven opened her mouth to ask who exactly they were chasing when a darting movement from up above caught her eye. What looked like a man was leaping off the building roofs, moving fast as appearing to be more animalistic than his human figure may suggest.

Barry chuckled gleefully again. "My soul won't be able to rest- not until I eviscerate that meat bag!"

Raven blinked in a mix of astonishment and confusion, glancing back and forth between Barry and the being running along the rooftops. "So that thing up there, that's your actual body?" she asked, leaning forward in her seat to get closer to the window, completely ignoring the look of annoyance that Mustang shot her as she spoke almost directly into his ear.

"The one and only!" Barry stated proudly. "Who would ever imagine that I would get the chance to chop up my own body? It's every man's dream!"

Feeling her stomach churning at the thought, Raven mumbled something that sounded like 'more like every person's nightmare' before settling back in her seat, trying not to dwell too much on the gory image that started to form in her mind.

Whipping out one of her side pistols, Hawkeye began to reload the weapon, though her thoughts seemed to be somewhere else. "So, do you think we can expect another appearance from that blubber beast back there?" she asked, not taking her eyes off her task.

"I doubt it," Mustang replied confidently. "I scorched him off the ledge."

"Yeah, and I shot him in the head," Hawkeye responded dryly, "but he didn't really seem to mind."

Raven's head perked up in attention. "This guy, did you notice if he had an Ouroboros tattoo anywhere on him?" she inquired.

Furrowing her eyebrows in concentration, Riza thought back on her encounter with the fat man. "A tattoo…" Her eyes suddenly lit up in recollection. "Actually, yeah. On his tongue."

For a moment, Al locked eyes with Raven, and the same thought seemed to pass between them. "In that case," he said grimly, "you were probably dealing with a homunculus."

Every pair of eyes in the car turned to stare at the younger Elric's statement. The car jerked to the right as their driver ceased paying attention to the road, making Raven's stomach drop as they almost smashed into Barry, who shouted a short stream of profanities at Mustang. Snapping back to attention, the Colonel regained control of the vehicle and immediately put distance back between the car and the suit of armor running alongside it.

"Just hold on a damn second," Mustang tried to regain his thoughts. "What are you saying, Al? That's just not possible."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Al admitted, "until I got kidnapped by a homunculus. He called himself Greed. One thing he told me is that nothing is impossible."

Raven bit the inside of her cheek at the memory. "These homunculi have incredible healing powers. I broke Greed's nose and dislocated his shoulder, but in a matter of seconds it was as if I hadn't even touched him."

Nodding, Al added, "We watched Greed get the top half of his head knocked off, but he was perfectly fine a minute later. They're real all right; I understand if you don't believe me."

"After what I just saw," Riza said softly, "I have to believe you."

"Hold on," Mustang interjected. "I rendered Fat Boy down to a bubbling puddle back there. Are you telling me he's still alive?"

"Probably," Al answered quietly.

Rolling his eyes, Mustang huffed, "Wonderful. Just a never-ending parade of freaks lately, huh?"

_Yeah, but who's the bigger freak: the one who can't die, or the one chasing after the regenerative freak?_ Raven thought sarcastically, and then shook her head slightly. Scratch _that, it doesn't make us freaks. It just makes us idiots._

* * *

><p>They tracked Barry's human body for what seemed like hours, until it finally ducked into a large stone building with military flags decorating the front. Parking the car a few streets down, the small party traveled on foot to the front gates of the building, peering warily around the corner to assess the situation.<p>

Raven felt her brow furrow as she recognized the place. "Laboratory Three? What the hell would he be doing in there?" she asked to no one in particular.

"That doesn't really matter," Mustang said, pulling away from the corner. "This ties the homunculi directly to the military. It's all we need for now. We're pulling back."

Chuckling a bit, Barry said in a sing-song tone, "Well, you have fun with that." Then, meat cleaver in hand, he shot off around the corner and around to the front of the building. The Colonel shouted at him to return, but the telltale sound of retreating footsteps told him that the suit or armor had no intention of obliging.

"Great," Raven drawled, pinching the bridge of her nose. "So what now?"

To her surprise, the corners of Mustang's mouth were turned up in a slight grin. "It looks like it's our lucky day. We're going in after him," he announced, taking the lead as he began to make his way up to the front doors of the Third Laboratory. The rest of the group quickly fell into formation behind him, with Alphonse and Raven following awkwardly at the rear.

As they made their way through the lab, following the trail of terrified-looking researchers and Barry's incoherent shouts, Raven's stomach began to sink in apprehension. She had no idea what they would find when they finally caught up with Barry's human body, wherever it was leading them to, but she doubted they would like what they found.

"Here," Riza's voice snapped Raven out of her thoughts. In her hand, she held out a pistol in offering to the girl. "I have a feeling you may need it soon."

Nodding, she gratefully took the gun- which was a bit heaver than she anticipated- and stowed it in the waistband of her pants. Though she had no aversion to guns, the Lieutenant's ominous statement made her think it would be bad luck to continue holding the object. She would be able to pull it out quickly when it was necessary, and even if that failed she could always fall back on the one gun that she was physically incapable of dropping.

Tracking Barry to the end of a hallway, the group stopped at the top of a small flight of stairs leading down into what Raven presumed was the basement. With a nod to go ahead from the Colonel, the five descended into the dark.

They gathered at the base of the stairs where there was still some light, though it was barely enough to illuminate the dark hallway. From what they could see however, the path branched off in two separate directions, one leading to the left, the other right.

"How the hell are we supposed to find him?" Havoc cursed, removing his ski mask to try and peer through the thick darkness.

Beside him at the front of the group, Mustang glanced in both directions, the gears in his head almost visibly whirring as he sorted through their options. "We're going to have to split up," he said decisively.

Raven bit her lip to keep from arguing. The idea of separating from each other seemed a dangerous one, especially considering they were chasing a rabid, literally mindless lunatic, but it was the best option they had.

Under Mustang's command, they divided into teams, Riza and Al on one, himself, Havoc, and Raven on the other. The young girl raised a dubious eyebrow at the Colonel's decision to place her with him given the bad blood between them, but one look told her that his choice wasn't made accidentally. He probably wanted to keep a watchful eye on her, she figured, ensure that she didn't do something stupid that would jeopardize the mission.

"Will you be alright?" Al asked worriedly. Raven could tell that he didn't like the idea of them being separated any more than she did- especially considering the fact that she would be together with Mustang- but she tried to make the best of it.

Smiling lightly in reassurance, she rested her hand on the butt of the pistol Hawkeye had given her moments ago, tucked safely in the waistband of her pants. "I've got it covered." The smile fell away from her lips. "You watch yourself too, okay?" She made him promise.

With that, the two groups headed off in different directions, neither looking back as they forged ahead through the black. Keeping on her toes, Raven kept one of her hands at the ready hovering just above her gun, following up Havoc in front with Mustang trailing shortly behind. None of them dared say a word as they silently snuck down the musty corridor. She didn't know if it was from their anticipation or the tension still visible between herself and the Colonel. Likely it was both. After several minutes of walking, they finally stopped at a door leading off the main hall. Hesitantly, they stepped inside, and Raven felt her heart contract for a moment.

It looked like a miniature run-down laboratory or experiment room that long since passed its prime. A thick layer of dust coated everything in the room, and mold was visibly growing on the ceiling and the cracks in the walls. Glass shards and rusty surgical instruments were strewn about the floor, along with what looked like half-completed transmutation circles. A few of these circles, she recalled with disgust, looked to be bioalchemic while others held a vague resemblance to incomplete human transmutation. She tried not to dwell on the prospect too much.

"Doesn't look like anyone's used this lab in a while," Mustang noted.

"I guess not," Havoc agreed. He squinted at their surroundings. "What is this stuff?"

Raven carefully made her way to a small metal desk built into the wall. Medical instruments littered the surface, rusted and covered in a fine coating of red-brown blood. She frowned. "From the looks of it, they were probably attempting human experimentation," Raven said, picking up a bloodstained scalpel and showing it to the others. Mustang's eyes narrowed grimly at the tool, and she could see that his thoughts were leading exactly where hers were. "If I had to guess, I would say that these people were performing human transmutation." In response to Havoc's look of apprehensive confusion, she opened her mouth to elaborate, but was cut off by a chillingly familiar voice.

"Well now, I am just shocked," a silky female voice called out from the shadows in front of them. Instantly, three guns were trained on a dark and curvy shape as it emerged from the shadows. "It's bad enough that you stood me up on our date, and now you point a gun at me?" The figure stepped into the dim light, and Raven noticed with incredulity, it was the same woman she and Ed had encountered back in the Fifth Laboratory. "You've got some nerve, don't you?" she mused, her odd violet eyes trained on the rifle-bearing Jean Havoc.

Said officer's gun lowered at the sight of the woman, his eyes wide with recognition. "Solaris?" he breathed. "What's going on?"

Not tearing her eyes from the cold woman, Raven asked incredulously, "You know her?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Raven saw him nod as if he was fixed in a trance.

"Hey, Havoc," Mustang broke him out of his daze. "You're girl's got the tattoo," he pointed out.

Now that she had time to process the woman more thoroughly than the last time she had encountered her, Raven noticed an odd tattoo inked on her chest. Without a doubt, it was the same ouroboros design that Greed had stamped on the back of his hand; a dragon devouring its own tail forming a circle with a hexagram placed in the center of it. It was such an outlandish design that Raven wondered how she had possibly missed it the first time. Then again, she was on the verge of unconsciousness at the time… but it also made her wonder exactly how Havoc had gone without noticing it. The answer dawned on her instantly.

"It's the first I've seen of it," Havoc said, his eyes drawn to his girlfriend's chest.

Raven rolled her eyes. "What is it with you guys? Are all of you suckers for big boobs or something?" she complained to herself.

Tears of admiration sprung to Havoc's eyes. "I can't help it," he said, his voice thick. "I love 'em!" he declared, clenching his fist endearingly.

Rolling his eyes at his subordinate, Mustang demanded, "Did you tell this woman anything?"

Straightening himself into a more militaristic stance, Havoc replied, "No, I never said a single thing about work, sir," he reported.

Judging by the way the woman's face turned down in a frown, Raven knew that he was telling the truth. The disappointment in her eyes was too real to say otherwise.

"Who are you, I mean really?" Raven spoke up. "What's your real name?"

The woman's cold eyes were alight with amusement as she turned them on the fifteen year old. "I am known by the other homunculi as Lust."

Raven raised a skeptical eyebrow, unconvinced that someone- even if that someone was a homunculus- was named after one of man's seven deadly sins. To her, it was almost the equivalent of naming a child after a food or household object: bizarre and impractical.

"Then tell me, Lust," Mustang began, his expression hard and surprisingly calm. "Do you know who Maes Hughes is?" he said grimly.

Raven's teeth clenched tightly together at the mention of his name.

"Oh yes," Lust answered thoughtfully, "he was quite the intelligent man, wouldn't you agree?" she grinned darkly. "I only wish I'd had the opportunity to pick his brain-" she was abruptly cut off as a gunshot rang through the air and a bullet embedded itself in her kneecap.

Much to her surprise- and annoyance- a side glance told her that the Colonel had been the one who fired the shot, just as her own finger was itching to squeeze the trigger. "On your knees," he growled. "I want to know everything."

Raven's jaw set as the woman placed a delicate hand over her wound, her fingers lightly tracing over it. Red sparks fizzled from the hole in her leg, and the skin began rapidly healing in front of their eyes at a rate beyond human capabilities. Though she had seen it before when Greed's nose had fixed itself before her eyes, she still found herself somewhat mesmerized by the spectacle.

Lust's mouth twitted up in a smirk at her expression, which probably matched that of the two men with her. "Sorry to say, but it's going to take more than you're capable of to make me get on my knees-" once again, she was silenced as more bullets were fired at her, this time by Raven. Though she knew it would have little- if any- effect on the woman, it felt good to at least temporarily put a hole through the woman's head. Mustang seemed to have the same notion, as he did the same and fired off several rounds at Lust's vital points. She fell back a few steps, but once the two alchemists paused from their shooting, a low chuckle escaped her lips.

"How merciless," she giggled. "I suppose the two of you are no strangers when it comes to killing, are you?" she said silkily, a trail of crimson blood spilling down over her face from her forehead. She licked her lips as a dribble of blood ran across her mouth, making Raven's stomach churn.

Havoc sucked in a quick intake of air. "You're a homunculus," he voiced his realization aloud.

"Indeed; how very astute of you, Jean," she praised, the fingers of her right hand elongating and sharpening to five deadly points. Raven poised herself in preparation for an attack. "But I doubt you've see this one," she continued, and to Raven's surprise, sunk her dagger-like fingers into her chest, directly above her tattoo. She pulled the skin and grisly muscles away to reveal a glittering red stone that seemed to give off its own aura, radiating a pure and intense energy that Raven could only guess what it meant. "Take a good look," she beckoned, reading their thoughts with ease. "It's a Philosopher's Stone."

A frigid chill passed over Raven, seeping into her bones. She could feel her heart hammering, as if her soul was beckoning her to reach out and grab the Stone right then and there, so as to be reunited with its other half. All her years of wondering, her months of searching, and now it was standing right in front of her, mocking her. It felt so idiotic, to be shamed by a rock of such a small size.

That's when the truth of the matter dawned on her. "Let me guess: the only reason you're telling us this is because you don't plan on letting us live," she stated more than asked.

"Yep," the homunculus said in response. "It's such a shame," she pouted, swinging her claw-like hands in an arc at Mustang and Raven's hands. The guns were sliced cleanly into halves, cutting deeply into Mustang's hand but only sending sparks harmlessly flying off Raven's automail.

Without missing a beat, Raven began to trace transmutation circles on the backs of her hands while the Colonel swiftly pulled on his ignition gloves and Havoc clicked a new magazine into his rifle. "Too slow!" Lust laughed as she sliced cleanly through an overhead pipe. Grey water rained down on top of the trio, soaking them and drowning Mustang's gloves, thus rendering them useless.

"Oh no," the woman giggled, "did I get your ignition gloves all wet? Silly me." She lunged toward them, her spear-like fingers outstretched.

The Colonel yanked Raven backward as he and Havoc dashed out of the way and out into the hall, away from the homunculus' range. They leaned against the wall on either side of the door, frantically sorting through options.

"Real nice girl you found, Havoc," Raven said sarcastically. "She's quite the people-person."

Beside her, Mustang elbowed her arm roughly. "Save the comments for later, Iron Haste!" he chided.

"What are we gonna do?" Havoc demanded. "She'll shred us with her freaky fingers!"

Glancing deliberately at Mustang, the young alchemist commented, "The flooded water may have put out your gloves, but she gave us one big advantage."

The corners of his mouth turned up, his thoughts leading the same direction as hers. "A simple transmutation and we've got hydrogen gas."

Havoc, who had been looking quite confused at their exchange, seemed to understand what the two alchemists intended to do. Whipping out his cigarette lighter from his pocket, he flicked it open and sparked a tiny flame just as Raven traced a quick transmutation circle in a puddle of water.

The effect was instant. Just as the water was converted into pure hydrogen gas, Havoc tossed his lighter inside the room as close to Lust as he could, and the room burst with an explosion that shook the ground beneath their feet. The homunculus gave a short cry of surprise before the flames engulfed her. After that, the hall was eerily silent save for their breathing.

Peering around the corner and into the room, Raven saw no sign to indicate that the homunculus was alive, or had ever been there with them. Nodding in approval, Raven stood up. "All clear," she announced and walked back into the room to investigate the damage.

The two men followed silently behind her, surveying the room- or what remained of it- just as she was. "She's dust," Mustang finally assessed. "We definitely cremated her."

"How can you be so sure?" Raven asked. "She's a homunculus, and from what I've seen, they're not exactly easy to kill."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Mustang replied, "It's the stench. I'm pretty familiar with that stink by now."

"You mean from that time you spent in Ishval?" Havoc clarified, making Raven's stomach tighten. Of course by now the Colonel would be able to pick out the scent of corpses. He'd spent enough time around them during the war.

"Regardless of that, there's still a possibility she could regenerate," Raven argued. "We need to keep on our toes."

Havoc nodded in agreement. "It'll be safer if we stay under that impression anyway."

"Fine," Mustang conceded. "Just be careful where you step-" He was abruptly cut off as a startled shout of pain escaped Havoc's mouth.

Raven stared as she saw two dark spears sticking out of the man's stomach, spearing him at the base of his spine. Blood gleamed wetly from the sharp points that stuck out several feet from Havoc's torso. In a flash, the spears retracted from his body, and his feet seemed to give out from underneath him. As he fell to the ground, a dark mass rose up behind him. Layer upon layer of bones, muscles, blood, and flesh built up on the figure until it finally formed the creature of Lust, who wore a menacing smile on her face as Mustang tried to coax the Second Lieutenant into speaking while Raven transmuted her automail in preparation for a fight.

"_Havoc!_" Mustang shouted, following his subordinate to the ground. "Havoc! Hang in there!"

The homunculus shook her head in disproval. "Don't kid yourself," she chuckled darkly. "He's a dead man."

"Correction," Raven traced a matrix onto her right arm. "_You're_ dead." She fired a screw at the woman, knocking Lust backwards as the metal piece embedded itself into her shoulder blade.

Mustang shot up from the ground, kicking Lust to the floor and pinning her down with a boot. "Give up!" she snarled. "There is nothing you can do that will kill me!"

"Then you won't mind," Mustang reached his hand into the homunculus' half-reformed chest and wrapped his hand around the glowing red stone serving as her heart. "If I borrow this!" He yanked the stone from her chest. Immediately, her skin began to darken and age as she slowly deteriorated into dust. "I need it to save Havoc," the Colonel said grimly as he turned back to his subordinate still laying facedown on the ground.

When she was certain that the homunculus wouldn't reform after she was reduced to a pile of ash, Raven followed Mustang over to Havoc's side. "Do you even know any medicinal alchemy?" she asked carefully.

"No," the Colonel answered shortly as he knelt beside Havoc, leaning over and inspecting his wound. "But if legend is true, then this should amplify the abilities I have already. I can sear the wound closed that way."

Shaking her head, Raven ordered, "Give me the Stone." She held an open hand out to Mustang as she kneeled down opposite him on Havoc's left side. Mustang narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, causing the girl to roll her eyes impatiently. "I know a thing or two about medicinal alchemy from the bioalchemy research I did at Tucker's," she elaborated. "I can stop the bleeding and probably close up the wound if you give me the Stone," she insisted.

Almost grudgingly, the Colonel dropped the small ruby Stone in Raven's open palm. Despite her prosthetic limbs, she swore she could feel pure energy pulsing through the tiny object like a heartbeat, rippling up her arm and spreading across her body. For an instant, she imagined herself clasping the Stone between her two hands- her flesh and blood appendages- and performing a simple transmutation thus returning her missing soul. It was a painful image, one she yearned for more than anything, but she banished it from her thoughts. How could she possibly think of such selfish actions when there was a man bleeding to death before her?

Shaking her head to clear it of any other thought besides the procedure for tending to Havoc's wounds, Raven clasped the Stone tightly in her left hand. Allowing her right to dip into the man's blood and trace a transmutation circle beside the hole, she let her fingers lightly draw out the matrix, being careful not to irritate the deep gash. Furrowing her eyebrows in concentration, she focused intently on properly connecting each curving line until a sharp pain jabbed at her side.

Looking down through squinted eyes at her left fist, she saw a half-formed Lust currently regenerating around the Philosopher's Stone still enclosed in the girl's hand. The woman twisted her hand, and Raven felt her torso flare up in agony. Two of Lust's spear-fingers had stabbed straight through the young girl's left abdomen. The homunculus grinned at her, the muscles of her mouth fully exposed and making her smile all the more sick.

At first, she felt nothing but a cold numbness seeping into her veins, then, like a fire had suddenly been lit on her skin, her side throbbed unbearably. Red-hot pain tore through her midsection as Lust retracted her sharp fingers from the girl's stomach, causing her to double over and try to catch her breath. Her heart was beating furiously, which she feared would only hasten the blood loss that was currently staining her shirt dark crimson. Falling onto her side, she choked back a yelp as another shot of pain burst from her jostled abdomen.

As if from far away, she heard Mustang shout something, then choke on his own words as Lust skewered him in a similar fashion. She tried to move, tried to get up and defend them, but her limbs refused to respond. While her heart and mind were going a million miles a minute, the rest of her was at a dead standstill, afraid that a single slight movement might worsen her already anguished side. She wanted to curl in on herself or apply pressure to the wound, but her arms were jelly at her sides and every breath she took was pained. Warm blood spilled out at an alarming rate from her side, and she wasn't sure if the metallic taste filling her mouth was imagined or not. Either way, she knew she was loosing blood, and loosing it fast.

Over her labored breathing and the sound of her furiously beating heart, Raven heard Lust's quiet voice almost pout, "I really hate to do this. The two of you were prime candidates for sacrifice, and all. But you forced me to kill you."

Raven attempted a venomous glare at the woman, but felt it wasted away as her eyes squeezed shut in pain. It seemed to catch the homunculus' attention however. "If you have that much life left in you, then your dear friend Alphonse Elric may as well watch it wane away." Gasping as she was roughly tugged onto her back, Raven felt Lust begin to drag her across the floor by her jacket collar, wincing with every inch she was moved and grinding her teeth together to keep from crying out.

Squinting one eye open, she caught one last glimpse of the Colonel and Second Lieutenant bleeding out side by side before her senses went completely fuzzy. Drifting back and forth on the fine line of consciousness and unconsciousness, Raven was vaguely aware of soft sounds coming from seemingly all around her as she was pulled along farther down the hallway. A trail of red seemed to follow her along the floor, and she realized that her own blood was marking their path.

With every step the homunculus took, every drag she yanked the girl forward, Raven was hit with round after round of exploding pain, and she knew that it was only making her blood loss worse. She struggled with her jacket, trying to shake it free from her body, but it only worsened the pain and essentially worsened her problem. After a while, she gave up and tried to concentrate of breathing and staying awake as she was hauled along through the dark.

Her grasp of time began to slip. What felt like an eternity later- though was probably only a handful of minutes- she felt her inclined upper body drop back down onto the floor, smacking her head hard on the cold and surprisingly smooth ground. She heard noises and what she presumed were voices, though it was difficult to tell since she felt as if there was cotton in her ears. Opening her eyes to harsh white light, she squinted her eyes and tried to turn her head so she could see what was going on, the found herself blinded by a brilliant flash of reddish orange light. Quickly closing her eyes again, she felt herself being nudged carefully to the side by what looked to be a black boot. She tried to glimpse a face, but another flash of bright light and the searing pain in her abdomen forced her eyes closed again. The strange light danced behind her closed lids, and again she could hear what sounded like screams, though she wasn't entirely sure whose they belonged to. There were more flashes and more screams until everything abruptly fell silent, save for her haggard breathing and the heartbeat that she was sure everyone in Amestris could hear.

Peeling her lids open carefully, she attempted to make sense of what was occurring before her. Everything was becoming a hazy blur to Raven as faces seemed to distort, disappear, and then reappear before her eyes. She imagined it was probably due to the unshed tears stinging her eyes, but her head felt too light to ponder it for very long. Voices echoed dully through her ears, urgency coloring their tones, though she could only make out a few words.

"No use… Have to cauterize…"

"… Only hurt her more…"

"… Bleed out…"

"… Die…"

"… Stand back…"

She opened her mouth, wanting to ask what they were talking about, when her abdomen began to throb again. It was subtle at first, then fierce as white-hot pain spread across her entire midsection. She let loose a scream, wishing more than ever that she could just pass out already and be relieved of this agony. For once, she didn't care who saw or who heard her; she felt warm tears slide down her face as she screamed again, a sound that didn't seem to come from her.

As if heeding her desire, the pain in her stomach slowly simmered down, but it was too late. Black spots had begun to cloud her vision. And then the darkness finally consumed her.

* * *

><p>When Alphonse returned that night, he did so alone. As if his heavily beaten up appearance- which included an arm that refused to remain attached to his remaining armor- wasn't distressing enough, he bore some bad news.<p>

Raven was in the hospital.

As he relayed the night's events to Ling and Winry, Al told them that she, Mustang, and Havoc had immediately been carted off into the emergency surgery room, which he was prohibited from entering. One of the nurses informed him that their treatment would likely take several hours before they were sent to rest and recover, and that since visiting hours were drawing to a close, he had might as well leave and check in on them the next morning. But he refused to wait until the next morning.

When Raven had been taken away on a gurney into the emergency room, Alphonse was afraid that they would be too late. She hadn't regained consciousness once after initially passing out, and she'd barely been breathing by the time they reached the hospital. Waiting another twelve hours- waiting another minute even- was not soon enough. He needed to know that she was going to be alright _now_, and judging from Winry's distressed expression and the worried furrowing of Ling's brow, the feeling was mutual.

"How about I go and check up on her?" Ling offered nonchalantly.

The corners of Winry's mouth turned down. "But they won't let you in," she countered.

"I'll sneak in," he answered simply. "It'll be easy: just find out what room she's in, take a quick peek through the window, and then come right back. No problem," he said breezily.

Alphonse moved to stand up. "I'm going with you."

Shaking his head, Ling responded, "You're too loud, they'd hear you coming from a mile away. I'm sneakier than I look," a small grin tugged at the edge of his lips. "I'll be in and out before they even know anyone was there."

It was a few minutes as Al seemed to mull over the prince's proposition before he finally sighed. "Alright. But be careful."

Grinning, Ling gave the pair a quick mock salute. "Careful is my middle name," he assured them before unlatching the window and leaping out into the cool night.

In a matter of a few short minutes, Ling managed to locate the hospital Al had informed him was currently caring for the dark haired girl, and even less time to pinpoint which room was hers. Scaling the wall, he sensed a bizarre Qi occupying the room directly above his head, and took a deep breath to mentally prepare himself. Ling really didn't know what to expect when he crept through Raven's hospital window, but it certainly wasn't this.

Her skin was as pale as death and the dark purple veins stood out clearly like a streak of paint across a blank canvas. Dark bruise-like shadows settled beneath her eyes, again, a stark contrast to her too pale skin. Putting a gentle hand on her arm, he found it cold to the touch despite the layers of blankets covering her. Had it not been for the reassuring blimp of her heart monitor and the shallow- though thankfully constant- rise and fall of her chest, he would have assumed she was dead.

His stomach churned at the thought. As small as she may have been, and though he hadn't known her for very long, Ling knew the girl was tough. She had survived loosing both of her arms from the elbows down, undergoing automail surgery and rehabilitation- which Edward had informed him to be a grueling and painful two to three year process- and somehow loosing a piece of her soul along the way; she could survive being stabbed.

Still... she was just too still, too much like a marble statue to be a living, breathing being.

Ling frowned. "You'd better make it through this," he murmured quietly. "Room service is still waiting for you."


	25. A Life Worth Living

**Disclaimer: I doesn't own Fullmetal Alchemist. **

**HUGE thanks to Mage of Hope for giving me the inspiration to write this chapter! She was such a huge help! THANK YOU, GIRL!**

**Ling gets so much attention in this chapter and the next 3 ! Also, just as a note for later, the iron oxide found in rust can be used to darken hair color, and even though it may have a redish tint- given enough- it can turn hair black.**

**A big thanks to all of my readers/reviewers/alerters/favoriters! Keep it up!**

* * *

><p>Not for the first time recently, when Raven awoke- even before her eyes were open- she felt as if she'd been run over by a freight train. And like the previous situation, she knew just from the smell that filled her nostrils with every inhale that she was back in the hospital.<p>

Peelings her lids open slowly, painfully, she almost had to squint as she took in the familiar sight of an all-white room, brightly illuminated with the window curtains thrown back. In any other case, she would have been grateful for the sun's warming presence to keep her chills at bay, but the harsh whiteness of the room coupled with the bright light was blinding. _Great_, she thought ruefully. _Now everything hurts_.

Taking a deep breath, she winced as she attempted to pull herself into an upright position, a deep ache settling into her abdomen. Carefully so as not to jostle her side, Raven pulled up the left corner of her scrub shirt and felt her breath freeze in her lungs.

Stretching across a majority of her midsection was a large burn scar that marred her skin, discolored and showing signs of contracture. If she looked closely enough, she could make out a barely detectable pair of marks where her skin was darker than even the burn. Her stab wounds.

"You're awake, I see," a voice chimed, startling Raven. She looked up to see a nurse enter her room, a kind smile on her face as she moved to her bedside. "I wouldn't move around too much if I were you," she warned. "Though I doubt it'll reopen your wound, you don't want to irritate it too much. Small movements are alright for now, but give yourself time to fully heal before you start to stretch your muscles again," she instructed.

Nodding numbly, Raven smoothed her shirt back down, not wanting to see the gruesome mark. "How long have I been out?" she asked in a detached tone.

"About two and a half days," the nurse replied, quickly glancing at the girl's monitor and jotting down a few notes on a clipboard.

Raven felt her heart skip a beat. "You lost about fifty percent of your blood," the nurse informed her. "There wasn't too much internal damage- nothing that can't be fixed, anyway- but we had to give you a few blood transfusions."

"And the burn?" Raven inquired softly. "How did that happen?"

Tapping her bottom lip thoughtfully, she replied, "From what we can gather, the man who came in with you seared your wound closed to prevent further blood loss or infection. It may not be pretty, but it undoubtedly saved your life."

The girl was silent for a moment. Raven's memory of the events after Lust had begun to drag her away were muddled at best, but she clearly recalled a blazing heat spreading over her wounded side. At first she assumed it was a flare up of pain, that she had done something to irritate it, but now it was obvious. The Colonel had cauterized her wound and kept her from bleeding out. He'd saved her life.

"And how is he doing?" Raven asked quietly. "Mustang… and Havoc too? Are they alright?"

"Both of them are stable," the nurse answered calmly, instantly relieving Raven's worry. "Banged up like you, but they're both awake and seem to be recovering just fine."

_So that must mean…_"Do you think I could go visit them for a few minutes? It won't take long at all," she added when the woman opened her mouth to argue. "I won't be a bother and I'll come right back here once I'm done."

Biting her lip, the nurse relented, "Alright. Just a few minutes though, the doctors will want to run a few tests to see how well you're doing now that you're conscious. And," she made her way over to the bathroom door, pulled it back, and dug out a metal chair from behind it. Rolling the wheelchair over to the girl, the nurse continued, "Since we don't want to aggravate your wound, you'll have to make do with getting around in this for the time being."

Scowling, Raven countered, "But the skin around the burn is already starting to contract. If I don't stretch it-"

"Then you won't strain it or hurt yourself before you've had time to fully recover," the woman interjected. "You're either leaving this room in this wheelchair, or you're not leaving at all," she said firmly, a confident grin playing at the edges of her lips.

After mumbling incoherently for a good five minutes, Raven finally sighed in defeat. "Fine," she forced the word out. "I'll use the stupid wheelchair only if I get to maneuver it myself."

The nurse raised an eyebrow. "Don't you want any help?"

Shaking her head, Raven replied, "The last thing I need is that jerk thinking I can't handle myself."

* * *

><p>Headaches were nothing new to Roy Mustang. In fact, he often thought of them as an occupational hazard, something he dealt with on a daily basis wherever his job was concerned. Between putting up with bratty State Alchemists, procrastinating subordinates, and unending mountains of paperwork, there was rarely a moment his head wasn't throbbing. He had hoped that the steady stream of pain killers floating through his system would finally silence the pounding inside his skull, but still no luck. As if his recent injuries weren't enough, he was still left to deal with the always-present headaches.<p>

And he was currently staring another one directly in the face.

"Finally awake, Iron Haste?" he asked lightly to the frowning girl in a wheelchair. For someone that lost about half the blood in her body, she appeared surprisingly spry, but then again, she was always a talented liar. She could have had her leg chopped off an acted as if it caused her no more pain than a paper cut.

"Yeah," she mumbled. "How's Havoc?" she nodded to the man sleeping soundly in the bed next to his.

Glancing over at his subordinate, Mustang replied, "He'll live. The doctors say his spine retained some damage, but he seems to be doing alright. And you?" he turned back to the dark haired girl. "I doubt you came for pleasantries, so what's on your mind?"

She bit her lip. "I don't remember much of what happened after Lust started dragging me away. I just wanted to fill the gaps in my memory."

Taking a deep breath, Mustang responded, "It's a good thing you're already sitting down. This might take a while."

He relayed the events of that night to her as best he could, though it wasn't much, considering he'd only been present for the last few minutes. With every detail he described, Raven's expression seemed to darken, though he wasn't surprised considering how serious the situation had gotten. By the time he had finished his retelling, she looked as if she'd eaten something months past its expiration date.

"So, you said that after burning her enough times, Lust finally died?" she repeated, clearly still trying to wrap her head around everything he had told her.

"Yeah, she couldn't regenerate after so many times, then her body just turned into dust," Mustang affirmed, his brow furrowing as Raven's eyes betrayed just how troubled she was by the statement. "Is something the matter? I thought you'd be glad to hear that thing is dead."

"I suppose..."

The Colonel sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Whatever it is you're thinking, just let it go for now. If you're as desperate to find a way to regain what you've lost as we all believe you to be, then don't waste your time worrying right now. Concentrate on healing, then you can fret until you're heart's content once you're released from here."

She blinked in shock at his words, and honestly, he hadn't entirely expected them himself. "Uh, sure," she said, unsure of how to respond.

Frowning, Mustang stared at Raven, suddenly missing her sharp wit and temper. This almost sullen-looking girl was too similar to how she had been after first joining the military, practically a zombie. Whatever thoughts she was lost in, they were obviously dragging her down, and in turn soured his mood a bit as well.

"So," he said, more to fill the silence in the room than anything, "I suppose now I won't have to watch my back waiting for you to sucker punch me anymore," he said, only half joking.

Scowling a bit, Raven retorted, "Even you have to admit that was somewhat deserving. You didn't have to be a complete and total ass about it."

He raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't have to completely and totally loose your temper the way you did," he retaliated.

"Whatever," she huffed, somewhat back to her old irksome self. Mustang raised an eyebrow at her, gazing at her with expectant black eyes. Her brow furrowed. "What?" she demanded.

"I think you know what."

"If you're looking for an apology, you won't get one," Raven said stubbornly.

Rolling his eyes tiredly, Mustang all but sighed, "Still hard-headed as ever, I see. What'll it take to get you to-"

"I will, however," she interrupted, her eyes loosing some of their ferocity, "say thank you."

The Colonel felt his jaw drop slightly. He had known better than to expect her to apologize for her behavior, but this? A genuine word of thanks was the last thing he anticipated. Quickly composing himself, he brushed off her comment as if she'd only stated an observation about the weather. "I can accept that; I did save your life. I suppose that makes you indebted to me," he said with a slight upturn of his mouth.

Raven grimaced. "Don't push your luck, Pony Boy," she warned. "I still haven't completely forgiven you." She wheeled her chair around to head back out the door, pausing in the threshold. "But I am grateful for what you did. So, thank you."

"Hmph," the Colonel made am arrogant noise, a bit miffed at her earlier comment but making a point to mask most of his irritation. "By the way," he began, causing her to stop once again in the doorway. "Tell your idiot friend that he can see you during visiting hours, not at ungodly hours of the night."

The girl's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"For the past two nights, some guy claiming to be a friend of yours has been sneaking in through the window thinking this was your room. If he keeps poking me awake in the middle of the night, asking for directions to your room, I will set his hair on fire. Think you can relay that to him?"

His words only seemed to deepen her confusion. "And which idiot friend of mine was this? By your definition, most, if not all of them are idiots," she said apathetically.

"The Xingese one," Mustang answered, crossing his arms. "He may have tried to steal my food too," he added.

At first, she seemed shocked by his statement, obviously not expecting his answer, then sighed, rubbing her temples. "That sounds like something he would do. Are you sure it was him?" she asked dubiously.

"Unless you know another brat from Xing with long black hair and a sword, I'm fairly sure it was him," the Colonel replied sarcastically.

Strangely, the corners of her lips turned up as she tried to restrain a smile. "I'll be sure to give him the message," she said quietly, rolling her chair with some difficulty out the door into the hallway. "See you around, Pony Boy," she called behind her as she disappeared down the hall.

Exasperated, Mustang fell back against his pillow. "Brats," he sighed.

* * *

><p>Over the course of the next few days, Raven's time was divided between the monotonous task of staring at white walls- which she felt would slowly drive her to insanity- and reciting the periodic table of elements along with each element's atomic and mass numbers- which numbed her mind, but did nothing to calm her unease. Hospital stays were nothing new to her, but she never recalled ever being so impatient to be discharged.<p>

It was foolish, she knew, to want to leave before having fully recovered. She would eventually find herself caught in a delicate situation, and just when she needed her strength most, it would fail her. Essentially she'd be a burden, nothing but dead weight better left behind. Raven grit her teeth. The last thing she wanted to do was weigh the others down- maybe even place them in danger- so for the time being, she would have to give herself time to heal.

The doctors had informed her that while none of her internal organs had been damaged, the loss of nearly half her body's blood was a troubling matter. They had prescribed her to rest for another five days to restore proper blood flow to her system and allow her abdomen to recover, but Raven wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. It was maddening to sit and wait with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company, but she couldn't afford to be weak when she was needed. _One day_, she decided. _Only one more day and it's back to work.  
><em>  
>She sighed, falling back against the stiff mattress and closing her eyes. Fatigue that had little to do with her lack of blood settled on her, but her mind was racing, making sleep impossible. More than anything, she wanted to get up and walk around, maybe exercise her muscles that had grown sore with disuse or stretch out her midsection to prevent further contracture. But she knew that the doctors would not allow it and sentence her back to her room, maybe even restrain her. <em>Yeah, because they really need to tie a girl that has to move around in a wheelchair to her bed<em>, she thought sarcastically. All she wanted was to busy her mind with something other than staring at a blank white wall, and needless to say, after four days she was beyond restless.

The only comfort she truly found was in the daily visits of Edward, Alphonse, and occasionally Winry and Ling. Since the latter was still considered an escaped criminal, morning and afternoon hours were a risky visiting time. Instead, Raven suspected he snuck in through the window every so often in the night, judging from his slightly singed hair she'd seen him sporting two days after her conversation with the Colonel. On the other hand, Winry was preparing to return to Rush Valley and assume her work- though Raven thought the blonde may have been a bit angry with her upon learning she had employed a new automail mechanic.

For the most part though, Raven had enjoyed each of their company. Ed always provided an opportunity for playful banter, Al was always kind and considerate, Winry was a fellow- and somewhat relatable- female, and Ling never ceased to make her laugh even when unintentional. It was only after they left that uncertainty settled upon her.

She'd been practically useless during the encounter with Lust, and it resulted in her being stabbed and endangering her companions. Raven never wanted to admit herself weak, but her actions clearly showed how far she had fallen behind. With time and effort, people were supposed to become stronger. Apparently, she had proven herself to be the exception to this rule.

_Don't_, a voice warned at the back of her mind. _The instant you believe yourself weak and useless is the instant you truly _become_ weak and useless._

_Tomorrow will be better_, she repeated to herself over and over again like a broken record. _Tomorrow, life begins again._

* * *

><p>For the first time since she had arrived at the hospital, Raven found herself unwilling to wake up when the next day arrived. The outstretched claws of sleep were still grappling at her semi-conscious mind, ready to pull her under once again. She felt mentally exhausted, having spent most of the night tossing and turning as she tried to will herself to sleep, and even when it came upon her she had been plagued with nightmares. As tired as she may have been however, she had no intention of falling back asleep only to revisit garish scenes of her murdered friends and companions and ultimately her own death.<p>

With a tired sigh, she rolled onto her side and sat up slowly, testing her ability to move about. Her side tingled somewhat, but the gut-wrenching pain that had been present upon her first awakening was gone. Lifting her shirt up, she examined her scarred abdomen for the first time in days. On the outside, it appeared little different than initially save for the fading signs of skin contracture, but Raven felt overall better. Though she was far from being in peak condition, she felt strong enough to move around on her own.

Further assessing her capabilities, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, shifting her weight from her left to her right. Her injured side ached a bit as she did so, but she figured that as she stretched her muscles out it would loosen up.

Gathering up her clothes that had been tucked away in her bedside drawer, she padded barefoot over to the small bathroom. Quietly locking the door, Raven filled the sink with water and ducked down to the cabinet beneath it. It was a simple matter of unlocking it with a quick transmutation, and an almost easier matter of rifling through an assortment of cleaning supplies until she found what she was looking for. Taking out a somewhat rusty pair of scissors, she scraped some of the dark flakes off into the water. Most of them were small enough to dissolve right into the water while some settled to the bottom in chunks. It mattered little to her whether or not they melted in the water, the transmutation would work as long as the necessary ingredients were present. Dousing her hair with the water and leaving the ends floating in the sink, she traced a quick circle onto the back of her hand and she laid her palm flat on the water's surface. Blue sparks danced and then fizzled out, and when Raven raised her head to look in the mirror, she saw entirely black hair.

She suppressed a shiver. It was a sight she hadn't seen in years, and honestly, she was a bit unsettled by it. Every day, she had woken up to bangs streaked with white, a reminder of the mistakes she had made and the price paid. Now that it was gone... nothing was truly different, she realized with a start. All it took was one look at her arms to convince herself of her wrongdoings, and she was still the same person. A bit roughed up and pure black hair, but still Raven Guardel.

Draining the sink and erasing all evidence of the transmutation, Raven shucked off her scratchy hospital scrubs and tossed them in a corner. Donning her fresh change of clothing- that still somehow managed to reek of antiseptic- Raven emerged from the bathroom, scribbled a quick thanks to the nurse or doctor that was sure to find it, and walked as quickly and as calmly as she could out the door.

Navigating through the maze of white hallways, Raven was happily surprised to find that her side wasn't screaming in protest with every step. In fact, she could almost feel her stomach muscles begin to unclench and the skin around her burn loosen up a bit. She sighed as she considered how long it would take for the contracture to completely smooth out- if it ever did. Though she continuously told herself that if Mustang hadn't acted as he did, she wouldn't be alive right now, but a small voice in the back of her head reminded her grudgingly that the Colonel had left her with a serious problem that may hinder her ability to move. Silencing it, she plastered a small smile on her face as she paused at the nurse's station to fill out her release forms. As annoyed with the man as she was, she had to admit her gratefulness to his actions; she would rather deal with the process of muscle rehabilitation than face death.

As she left the hospital behind her, Raven navigated her way through the city's bustling crowds of people flooding the streets toward Central Hotel. She tried to loose herself in the noise in attempt to calm her swirling thoughts and doubts, but found little success. However, she was quick to fix a lazy grin on her face as she suddenly found herself staring at the door of Ed and Al's hotel room, voices echoing from the other side. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she threw open their door.

"Knock, knock," Raven greeted as she walked into the Elrics' room, abruptly ending all conversation as four pairs of eyes turned to stare at her. Edward's mouth was still open, formed on the words he had been speaking until Raven had interrupted. Beside him sat his brother while Ling and Lan Fan were seated on a couch opposite the brothers. All had been watching Ed attentively, but the instant Raven walked though the door, everyone was silent. Brushing off their uncomfortable gaping, she crossed over to them and folded her arms over her chest. "I heard that you were holding a gathering for the psychologically disturbed, and figured my invite was lost in the mail," she said airily.

Blinking away his shock at her sudden appearance, Ed seemed to fight to keep his voice level as he said, "What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?"

Gazing at him blandly, Raven retorted, "It's nice to see you too. Way to make a girl feel welcome."

"I think Brother means to ask if your injuries are fully healed yet," Alphonse translated helpfully.

"For the most part yes. Right now I just need to concentrate on exercising my muscles to build my strength back up. And," she added with an upturn of her mouth, "I figured that sticking around with you guys would provide the perfect opportunity to do so."

Edward opened his mouth to snap a response when Ling's hand shot up in the air. "Question!" he announced with his eyes trained on the dark haired girl.

"Uh, yes?" Raven said, feeling like an old schoolteacher.

"When did your hair turn all black?" the Xingese boy inquired.

Blinking at him in astonishment, Raven found herself once again amazed at Ling's questionable attention span. "Of all the things to point out, you ask about my hair?"

Shrugging, he responded, "I already figured out from the fact that you're here that you're itching for some action, so no questions there. As for the action you seek, well," he gestured widely at the gathering, "you found it!"

Shaking her head a bit, Raven had to hand it to the Xingese boy; he could read her like an open book. Though whether or not it was entirely a good thing, she was uncertain. "And what exactly did I find?" she asked tentatively, looking from the Xingese pair to Alphonse before finally resting her eyes on Edward. Her face fell and stomach dropped as she registered his cautious expression. "Let me guess, something dangerous and potentially fatal," she stated more than asked.

"Not fatal per-say..." Ed answered doggedly.

Groaning in frustration, Raven rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger. "But still life threatening and highly stupid, no doubt," she assumed.

Crossing his arms in annoyance, Edward said tersely, "There should be minimal risk involved. At least listen to the plan before jumping to conclusions."

"Alright," she sighed, settling onto the armrest beside Ling, which earned her a pointed glare from Lan Fan. Ignoring her, Raven leaned her elbows on her knees, gazing attentively at the Elric brothers. "Enlighten me."

As Edward relayed their plan to Raven, she stayed completely silent while she mulled over their intentions. She found that as he went into further detail, a cold rock began to form in her stomach, and part of her deeply regretted having left the hospital.

"So, what do you think?" Alphonse asked after his brother finished explaining.

Exhaling slowly, Raven shook her head. "I think you're completely insane," she deadpanned. "As if purposely luring out the homunculi isn't dangerous enough, you want to have a showdown with Scar right in the middle of it? Either you've gone crazy or you're a moron, and I'm inclined to think both."

Frowning, Ed opened his mouth to snap a response when Ling interrupted. "Well, I hear insanity and stupidity go hand in hand," he offered unhelpfully, earning himself a glare from a very annoyed Edward. "But it's a good idea," he quickly amended. "This Scar guy needs to be taken care of, and we need to lure out the homunculi. It's like killing two stones with one bird."

Rubbing her forehead with her palm, Raven felt herself sigh in exasperation. "The amount of your combined stupidity could kill an entire species," she groaned in complaint.

"True," Ling admitted, slinging his arm over her shoulder with his signature grin, "but with you added to it, we could probably kill every living thing on the planet."

She sighed again, seeing no point in arguing something she knew to be true. "In fact, it just might be enough to take out the homunculi. Alright," she said decisively, "count me in. So when do we start?" she asked expectantly.

A grin slowly spread its way across Edward's face. "Now."

* * *

><p>In less time than Raven thought possible, the operation was underway. Presently, she was perched atop the ledge of a roof, looking out at the streets below and trying to keep tabs on the Elric brothers. It was times such as these when she wished she shared Ling's perceptive ability to sense another being's chi, as it would definitely make her task easier. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the Xingese prince sitting beside her, looking completely at ease despite the absurdity and the danger of their plan. She restrained a smile, wishing her nerves were as calm as his; she had been twitching impatiently for the past two hours as they sat and waited for either Scar or the homunculi to show their faces. Apparently she was not the only one on edge, as Lan Fan had resumed inspecting her arsenal of kunai knives for about the seventh time in ten minutes. For a trained martial artist, the Xingese girl seemed to have little patience, Raven noted.<p>

Raven was barely aware of the fact that she was still observing Ling until their eyes finally met and he grinned slyly. "Is there something about me that fascinates you to the point of staring?" he said, causing her to faintly blush.

"I was just kind of wondering what it was like to be able to sense another person's chi," she said quickly.

He raised a skeptical eyebrow, but answered, "It comes in handy. All the people of Xing are born with the ability."

"I wonder why it's only the Xingese people that can sense chi. Why wouldn't Amestrians or Cretans be able to do the same?" she asked to no one in particular.

Shrugging, Ling offered, "Maybe because the people of your country aren't awesome enough to handle sensory abilities."

Raven laughed quietly, and then lapsed back into silence as she caught a glimpse of a dark haired man and blonde woman in military uniform huddling near the Elrics. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye talked rather animatedly with the brothers. Raven took a deep breath, trying to calm her buzzing nerves that were anxious for things to finally set in motion.

"Are you sure that you're up for this?" Ling asked, his tone uncommonly serious. "Are you going to be okay?"

Stifling a sigh, Raven began, "I appreciate your concern, but-"

"But ever since we left the hotel, you've been holding your stomach as if you're still in pain and you haven't taken your weight off your right side." He raised a dubious eyebrow at her. "I'm interested in hearing what your definition of 'okay' is. 'Alive'?" he guessed.

Raven was speechless. Glancing at herself, she noted her own rigid posture, arm cradling her stomach, and body weight leaning away from her injured side. At some point, unbeknownst to her, Ling had been observing her behavior and making note of her every minute action. She had seen glimpses of a boy that was more perceptive than he appeared in the past, but this... Raven would never be able to underestimate him again. "Well," she mumbled, wringing her wrists, "if it makes you feel any better, I'm not in pain. Nervous sure, but the doctors said that I should be all healed up for the most part."

Waving a dismissive hand, Ling replied airily, "What do doctors know anyway? I thought we already cleared up the fact that I'm more perceptive than most."

"So I've noticed," she mumbled. "It's almost scary how much you notice. You're like a mind-reading ninja."

Grinning, he chirped, "Something like that. Then again, it's not very hard to figure out what your tell is."

Raven's brow furrowed. "My tell?"

"It's what tells me when you're lying," Ling continued in the same chipper tone. "For you, it's in your eyes. It's almost like they feel guilty about lying, so they blink a lot. I guess it's your body's way of rejecting the fact that you lie."

She exhaled a short, half amused, half disbelieving breath. "Do I really?" He nodded. "So I'm that obvious?"

Shaking his head, Ling replied, "Not really. It took me a while to figure it out, but when I first visited you in the hospital is when I began to notice it. You kept trying to reassure Alphonse and me that you were feeling alright, but you were blinking a lot when you said it. That's about when I started to put the pieces together and figured out your tell."

An embarrassed flush colored her cheeks, though it had little to do with his powerful deductive skills. "I'm sorry for lying to you. I just…" she trailed off, unsure of what to say and how to even justify saying she hadn't wanted anyone concerned about her health.

"Everyone was really worried about you, you know," Ling said softly. "When Al came back alone that night, we all thought…" he trailed off, but she knew from his expression that he had momentarily believed her dead.

Biting her bottom lip, Raven murmured, "I know Edward says that I'm stupid for being so willing to die, but that's really not the case anymore. Back then, I was almost certain that I was going to bleed to death, and for once… the thought terrified me. It's only now that I realize that I don't want to die, that I'm willing to fight with every ounce of my strength to keep on living."

Ling's brow furrowed. "What made you change your mind?"

A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "The fact that I had people who cared about me. People who made me want to continue living. People who made it worth living."

Silence hung in the air for a few moments as the weight of her words settled on them. Raven chewed the inside of her cheek; she was unused to sharing something so personal to someone, but she felt strangely comfortable confiding in the Xingese boy. What had taken her weeks to reveal to the Elrics had taken days to tell Ling, and she found herself slowly beginning to truly trust Ling- a feat she probably wouldn't have considered herself capable of three months ago. In the recesses of her mind, Izumi's words echoed, _Find someone to confide in, someone you know you can absolutely trust with your secrets._

"Does that include me?" Ling's voice chimed, interrupting her thoughts.

"Which part?"

"The one about making life worth living," he elaborated. "Is my name somewhere on that list?"

Just as she opened her mouth to respond, Ling and Lan Fan's heads snapped up simultaneously, their gazes turning to the west. The prince's brow furrowed. "That's a strange presence," he commented, turning to his subordinate. "You can feel it too, right?"

Nodding, Lan Fan replied, "Yes."

"I suppose that's our cue," Raven said, stretching out her stiff muscles.

Ling raised a questioning eyebrow. "Edward said you would only do surveillance with us then head over to the meeting place."

Clenching her fist, she replied firmly, "I can handle this. At the very least, I can provide you guys some backup in case more homunculi come. They won't hurt me, not if I'm supposed to be one of their 'precious sacrifices'. I'll be fine," her tone left little room for argument.

After a brief hesitation, Ling finally nodded. "Then let's move."

Without further prompting, the three of them took off leaping from rooftop to rooftop over the city, following the homunculi's scent. Raven could feel her abdomen burn from the workout, her stomach muscles still a bit stiff from disuse, but the knot that had been forming there was beginning to loosen. As adrenaline slowly pulsed through her body, she felt her limbs growing lighter and the discomfort in her midsection subside. If she could manage to keep it up, she figured she may just be useful for something other than a standby replacement fighter.

"Rae," Ling called from the front of the group, breaking the girl out of her thoughts, "I want you to stay close to me. This might get messy."

Her brow furrowed. "Why do you say that?"

"I think there may be two of them," he answered. "It's a bit hard to tell though; their chi is even stranger than yours," he added absentmindedly.

"Thanks," she muttered under her breath sarcastically. In a louder voice, she asked as she dropped down to a lower ledge of a multilevel roof, "How close are we?"

"Directly ahead," Lan Fan answered shortly, much to Raven's surprise. As she looked up, she stopped dead in her tracks, nearly teetering off the edge of the roof and knocking Ling down with her in the process.

Just as the Xingese warrior predicted, a massive blob of flesh came careening toward them from seemingly nowhere, though it didn't appear to have noticed the three on the rooftops. Upon closer inspection, Raven noticed that it was a very short, very fat, very bald man wearing some sort of black skintight suit. Despite his size, he seemed to have little difficulty vaulting from roof to roof at a pace that probably would have matched Ling's. His way of running reminded Raven strangely of a child: wildly sprinting, only looking far off in the distance at their objective while completely neglecting any obstacles placed directly in front of them.

In this case, his obstacle was Lan Fan's booted foot that smacked him solidly in the face.

He was sent flying on impact, hurling backward through the air and crashing into the roof of a building. _That family's not going to be too happy when they get home and find a giant hole in their roof_, Raven thought wryly. Her humor died swiftly as Ling pulled out his cutlass in one smooth motion and rested the flat back edge of it on his shoulder like a baseball bat, grinning confidently.

"Hi! How's it going?" he called cheerily to the fat man hauling himself up from the wreckage. "That is one pretty unusual body you've got there. How many people are inside you?"

The fat man's small dark eyes drifted uncomprehendingly between the prince, the wide-eyed girl standing behind him, and the masked warrior. "Who are you?" he asked timidly.

Raven's brow furrowed. This was a homunculus? Of the three she'd had the displeasure of encountering, this one seemed almost too incompetent to be called a creature such as the homunculus. He certainly possessed the sinful qualities of the gluttonous, but lacked the overall threatening demeanor that Raven had always felt went hand-in-hand with the homunculi.

"Don't bother running," Lan Fan warned gruffly. "I sense your presence, and I can follow it."

Strangely, the supposed homunculus smiled childishly, as if the idea amused him. "Follow?" he echoed. "Me? Then I'll just eat you now," he reasoned, opening his jaw wide.

Raven's eyes widened as she spotted a familiar mark tattooed on his tongue, that of a serpent devouring its own tail. _The Ouroboros. He's one of the homunculi alright, but…_ she trailed off, her eyes scanning their surroundings. _Ling said there were two, so where…  
><em>  
>"So, you're able to detect his presence, are you?" an eerily family voice mused from below. Following the sound, Raven traced it to the street below and felt her breath catch in her lungs. There was no mistaking the clean-cut military uniform, cropped dark hair and matching mustache, black eye patch, and the gleaming twin swords strapped to his waist.<p>

Fuhrer King Bradley, leader of the nation of Amestris.

His single green eye carefully regarded each one of them, and Raven felt a chill travel down her spine as it passed over her. Her limbs froze as recognition flashed in his dark orb, and she felt herself completely unable to move, unable to breathe, and unable to think. Panic and fear continued to grip her even as his sight slid past her to Ling before finally landing on Lan Fan. "Well, that's quite the nuisance," he growled, unsheathing his swords. "Let's take care of it."

In a wild burst of speed, Bradley was racing up a building, barreling toward the Xingese girl like an unstoppable force of nature. Ling shouted to her, ordering her to run, but no one even had a chance to blink as the blades swiped at her, filling the air with shards of her mask and crimson drops of blood.

The atmosphere was shattered with Ling's panicked cry of, "_Lan Fan_!" as the girl began to fall. As tormented as his voice was, it was enough to snap Raven out of her terror and force herself to move. Her senses kicked into overdrive as she saw the Xingese warrior land roughly on the roof of a low building while her peripherals caught sight of the homunculus she presumed to be Gluttony leaping toward her.

Before she had a chance to warn the prince, he was already shooting through the air, his sword at the ready. In one clean slice, the top half of Gluttony's head was sheared off along with his hands, spraying more blood into the air. His huge body flopped uselessly down in pieces not feet from where Lan Fan laid unmoving, but Raven knew better than to hope the fat homunculus would remain dead for long.

Raven's feet moved of their own accord, jumping down from her perch to land beside Ling and the barely conscious girl lying next to him. "Lan Fan! Please! Stay with me!" he urged.

"We need to get her out of here," Raven commanded, glancing behind them as she saw red sparks dance around Gluttony's slowly reforming body. "If we get her somewhere safe, I can stop the bleeding, but we have to loose these guys first," she said warily.

Nodding briskly, Ling gathered the limp girl up in his arms and swung her over his shoulder. Just as he stood up, Bradley landed ten feet away from them, sword in hand and a deep scowl set on his face. From the corner of her eyes, Raven spotted Gluttony slowly rising to his feet, an ugly smile plastered on his face. Weighing their options with the limited time Lan Fan had, she felt the words leave her lips before she could thoroughly think them through, "I'll take the fat guy on; do you think you can handle Bradley?"

Ling stiffened at her side, his grip on Lan Fan and his cutlass tightening. "Are you sure?" he asked tightly. "Will you be alright on your own?"

"We don't really have another choice," she answered grimly. "If you see an opening, take it and run," she ordered, sinking into a fighting stance and turning to face the enormous homunculus.

As if from far away, she heard the military man scoff at her statement. "You think you can escape from me that easily?" Bradley's voice rumbled, causing her blood to freeze in her veins. "You're sorely mistaken!" He dove at her with the same lightning speed as before against Lan Fan, his sword trained on her.

Acting entirely on adrenaline alone, Raven's hands clapped together and pressed against her automail arm, her ears waiting for the loud bang of a screw shooting out at her attacker. None came, and she watched in horror and bewilderment as the plates of her knuckles formed into short spikes. _Shit!_ she mentally screamed as a flash of silver darted before her eyes and Bradley's sword was staring her in the face. She didn't even have time to breathe as the Führer made the final lunge and drove his blade home.


	26. Strength And Regret

**Disclaimer: I no own.**

**I intended to have this chapter up over a week ago, and I am infinately sorry for only just posting it now. I now have to wonderfully horrid distractions in the forms of a PS2 and online gaming that have kept me away from my writing, but I shall try better to divide my time more evenly. The next chapters will probably be out sooner than this one- again, so sorry! But a big thanks once again to all my readers/reviewers/alerters/favorites! Especially Mage of Hope, whose ideas and inspiration have greatly helped me through the worst of writer's block, and yyh-ygo-fma (who may have changed her name at this point) for giving me the idea to have Rae nickname Colonel Mustang Pony Boy. Still makes me laugh! Anyway, thanks again to everyone, and I hope you all enjoy this next installment!**

* * *

><p>A sharp clang rang through the air, and Raven nearly keeled over as a familiar cutlass shot into her line of sight. Ling's sword was hovering mere inches from her face, intercepting Bradley's blade and deflecting the blow to the side of her head. She wasn't entirely sure if the cool breeze brushing her cheek was imagined or not as the Xingese prince parried both their weapons away from her face. He landed a solid kick to the Fuhrer's stomach, sending the man skidding far enough backward so Raven could catch her breath and attempt to restart her heart.<p>

"Are you alright?" Ling questioned breathlessly, glancing at the pale girl over his shoulder.

Taking in a shaky breath, she replied tightly, "No time to be alright! Watch out!" she shouted as Bradley swooped in for another attack. The prince met him head-on with his cutlass, shoving him back and luring him away from Raven, going toe to toe with the Fuhrer of Amestris in a battle of swordsmanship.

Reminding herself of a second hostile presence nearby, Raven turned her attention toward Gluttony, who continued to look on at them with a sick smile. "Time to eat now?" he asked enthusiastically, almost stumbling as he began to rush at her.

Gritting her teeth, Raven danced to the side just as he collided with the spot she'd been standing in. "Eat this!" she spat, swinging her fist in an arc around her and smashing her spiked knuckles into the homunculus' nose as he passed her. She heard rather than felt it break and ignored the blood that poured over her fingers. The fat homunculus shuffled backward, and Raven took advantage of his distraction to kick him in his gut and send him flying.

Relaxing a bit, Raven took a deep breath and prepared to move in on Gluttony when something smashed into her back, nearly knocking her off her feet. Glancing over her shoulder, she found herself staring face to face with Ling, still locked in combat with Bradley. "Move!" he shouted, yanking her to the side with him as the military leader swooped in for an attack. Holding her arms up in front of her face, she managed to deflect the blow of his sword as she stumbled back behind Ling.

_This doesn't make any sense_, she thought desperately. _Back in Lab Five, they told me that I was a 'precious sacrifice' for their plan. So why are a homunculus and the Führer trying to kill me? Why are they even working together? Unless..._ She dreaded the mere thought of their nation's leader allied with the homunculi, but to consider the possibility of the man actually _being_ a homunculus himself was worse. It meant that she and her comrades were in for a load of trouble.

Just as she opened her mouth to voice a question, the Fuhrer called out to his fat friend for assistance. Raven prepared to jerk them out of the way at the last second as she had done earlier, but Gluttony anticipated her move, stretching his beefy arms out and smacking Ling squarely in the chest. Trapped behind him, Raven was sent hurling through the air along with the Xingese prince and nearly unconscious bodyguard still slung over his shoulder.

Her breath left her in a great whoosh as her back slammed through a glass windowpane, shards slicing through the fabric of her jacket and digging into her skin. She landed in a rough heap, smacking the back of her head against the cold cement floor of a tiny room across the street from the building they had previously been dueling on. Black spots danced at the edges of her vision, obscuring her view of a roughed-up looking Ling who had somehow- miraculously- managed to keep a firm hold of Lan Fan and his weapon. Their image blurred and all sound became muffled as if cotton had been stuffed in her ears. She half heard him shout what sounded like her name before her heavy lids fell closed and darkness engulfed her.

* * *

><p>"Raven!" Ling prompted urgently for the third time, trying to shake the girl awake with his foot while still retaining a firm grip on Lan Fan over his shoulder. As strong as he may have been, he knew he couldn't carry both of them and his cutlass while fending off a homunculus and his super soldier friend. The Amestrian girl needed to wake up, and she needed to wake up <em>now<em>.

"Come on, Rae," he tried again. "Get up!"

The sound of glass splintering under a boot made Ling's blood run cold. He turned toward the window apprehensively to see the dark haired man cloaked in an Amestrian military uniform step calmly through the gaping window, his obese partner hovering just outside. "Excellent," the soldier noted, "we should have some privacy in here. If you don't mind, I have some questions."

Ling's jaw set, not about to reveal a single piece of information to the man, when Raven stirred at his feet. She blinked uncomprehendingly as her mind registered the sight unfolding before her, and then gaped in fear and astonishment as her eyes came to rest on the military man. Ignoring her, the man continued, "I'd like to know who you two are and how it is that you're acquainted with Miss Guardel," his eyes narrowed as they locked on the dark haired girl slowly rising to her feet, flinching a bit under his gaze. "And also, can I assume that it was you who told these foreigners about what's inside Gluttony?"

Positioning himself in front of Raven so that neither of their adversaries could see his face, he quietly breathed, "Think you can make a run for it?"

Nodding numbly, she tore her eyes away from the uniformed man to scan the room. Ling inclined his head slightly to her right where an open door stood, their only possible escape route besides the window. Her eyes zeroed in on the exit, then flashed back to Ling with a slight incline of her head.

Despite their attempts to be discreet, the military man seemed to notice their every action. "You're looking for an escape? Even now?" he scoffed laughably. "You don't give up, do you?"

From the corner of his eye, Ling saw Raven's expression darken as she glanced at the barely conscious Lan Fan over his shoulder. He didn't need to look himself to know that the girl's situation was dire, but their options were just as limited as the time she had left before her condition worsened.

"You might stand a fair chance of getting away if you'd only abandon the injured girl," the military man continued in a tone that made the prince's blood boil. "Because she's just excess baggage at this point."

Glaring venomously at the man, Ling practically spat the words back, "'Excess baggage'?" Nodding toward the man's shoulder, he hissed, "I can see all those stars on your uniform; you're the ruler here, Fuhrer King Bradley unless I'm mistaken." He shook his head in disgust. "A ruler's duty is to his people. Without them, he is no king at all! King Bradley," he nearly scoffed at the man's mere name, "you're no true king. Not now or ever!"

"Naïve boy," Bradley reprimanded in a condescending tone. "Don't you know that there are no true kings in this world?"

A muscle ticked in Ling's jaw. He opened his mouth to respond, but a high, metallic tick noise just beside his ear caught his attention. Just as it sounded, a small green cylinder flew over his shoulder, bounced once on the ground, and then burst in a flash of blinding light.

Clenching his eyes shut at the harsh brightness, Ling further tightened his grip on his weapon and Lan Fan, readying himself in case Bradley or Gluttony made an attack and briefly wishing he had a free hand to keep tabs on Raven. As if reading his mind, a cold hand grabbed his arm and yanked him in the general direction of the door he had spotted earlier. "It'll hold them off for a little while," Raven's voice, tight with worry, shouted above the fading din of the flash bomb. "The exit should be a few steps ahead, but we have to be-" she abruptly broke off and stopped dead in her tracks, nearly causing him to plow right into her, as the sharp sting of metal clanked in the air, and Ling momentarily felt his stomach drop. To his relief, her grip of his arm did not lessen, so he safely assumed she hadn't been hit.

As the burst of light dimmed however, he opened his eyes to see her standing midstride just outside the threshold of the door, one of Bradley's swords firmly implanted in the frame not inches from her face. Pulling the frozen girl slowly back from the blade, Ling glared over his shoulder at Bradley, still on his knees with a hand shielding his eyes. He seemed slightly different however, and the Xingese prince immediately noticed the distinctions. Firstly, his black eye patch now lay on the floor at his feet. Second, the corners of his mouth were turned slightly upward.

"Nice try," Bradley leered, lowering his hand and exposing his now open left eye. Beside him, Ling heard Raven suck in a gasp and felt his own breath leave him in a sharp exhale. It was entirely white, devoid of both pupil and iris, save for a small yet intricate red design. Though it was slightly difficult to make out entirely, Ling could clearly distinguish the shape of a serpent devouring its own tail, a symbol Edward had informed him to be an Ouroboros- the mark of a homunculus. "But your flash bomb didn't succeed in blinding _this_ eye."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, a loud bang that Ling recognized to be a gunshot sounded beside him, and once again the room was alight with retina-searing intensity. Reaching behind him, the prince gripped a metal casing, pulled the pin, and let the grenade fly as he darted out the door with Raven in tow. In less time than he anticipated, the bomb detonated, sending sharp gusts of wind to lash at their backs as the three were propelled through a window at the end of a hall.

As they flew from the three story building, the ground rose up to meet them at an alarming rate, but Ling managed to land in a low crouch with only a small sting in his knees and ankles. Raven appeared less lucky, though she landed in a similar fashion and rolled forward with her momentum, her arm flew to cradle her stomach and her face contorted in pain.

Opening his mouth to voice his concerns, Ling was immediately cut off by a fierce glare from the black haired girl. "Let's go!" she ordered breathlessly.

Nodding wordlessly, Ling winced a bit as he hauled himself upright and broke out in a dead sprint down the street with a grimacing Raven trailing closely behind him. Ignoring the burning stares of curious pedestrians, the Xingese prince concentrated on putting as much distance as possible between them and the homunculi.

Darting off the main road and into a section of deserted buildings, Ling was all too aware of the bleeding girl slung over his shoulder, her breath coming in shallow, uneven gasps. Though he hadn't had time to thoroughly inspect her wound, he assumed it was a fairly deep gash judging from the amount of blood slowly streaming out. He could already feel it soaking through the fabric of his jacket and worried how much blood she had already lost since being attacked.

The wound needed immediate treatment, he knew, but the obese homunculus clambering along the rooftops after them made it difficult to do so. Raven had said she could treat Lan Fan's injury, but somehow the prince doubted that the homunculi would simply sit back and oblige to the alchemist's demands. Even if the Amestrian girl stated that the homunculi would refrain from killing her, Bradley had nearly cut her head off on more than one occasion and Gluttony had mentioned something about eating her. They seemed more than willing to kill her, so Ling doubted that the immortal pair would show a speck of compassion and allow her to heal the catatonic Xingese warrior. These beings were just annoyingly relentless in that way.

"Damn it," Raven muttered, snapping Ling out of his thoughts. Peering over his shoulder at her, he frowned as he noted her somewhat clammy complexion and narrowed eyes. She was clearly having difficulty keeping pace with him, her old wound returning to give her grief, but this did not appear to be the reason for her cursing. Her eyes were trained on the rooftops above them, and following her gaze, he saw Gluttony slowly limbering after them at an almost leisurely pace as if he were enjoying the chase. "They won't give up, will they?" she commented gravely.

Gritting his teeth, Ling affirmed, "We have to keep moving. With a little luck, they'll loose our scent and we can get away."

The other girl remained silent, though Ling suspected he knew what she was thinking. It was naïve to hope that they could somehow outmaneuver the homunculi; no matter where they ran, the two homunculi would track them down. A trail of blood followed in their wake, marking their every twist and turn as Lan Fan's arm continued to bleed.

A quiet gasping in his ear caught Ling's attention, and he felt Lan Fan begin to stir. "What happened to me?" his subordinate breathed laboriously, as if she were still having difficulty remaining conscious.

His brow furrowed at the hysteria creeping into her tone. "What's wrong?"

"My arm," the warrior responded, her voice rising. "My Lord, I'm useless to you now."

"What are you talking about?" Ling demanded.

"You cannot burden yourself with me," she continued, ignoring his question. "If you do, they'll only get you too. A king is no king without his people," she said, "but a people without their king would be lost as well. You can't do that to them! My Lord, think of our clan! You must live for their sake!"

He *was* thinking of his clan. Lan Fan was just as much of part of that clan as he himself was. "I won't leave you," he said firmly, silently wishing her unconscious again so as not to hear her protests.

Lan Fan was quiet for a moment, and Ling thought perhaps his wish had been granted. But then she spoke, "Sometimes someone must be left behind." She began to shift around over his shoulder, and when she spoke again her voice was muffled. "For the greater good."

Raven, who had kept strangely silent through their exchange, finally said something, though it made Ling's blood run cold. "Lan Fan, what are you doing? What's-" she abruptly broke off, then took in a sharp intake. "Stop!"

The familiar sound of a knife slicing though air reached his ears, and Lan Fan's intentions suddenly dawned on the prince. "No! Don't do it!" he shouted, though he knew it was already too late. Kunai tore through flesh and bone and blood, and Ling didn't need to look down at the ground to know what had fallen with a sickening plop.

Lan Fan had cut her own arm off.

The girl's scream was greatly muffled by the mouthful of her sleeve, but her pained cry still managed to set Ling ill at ease. He stopped dead in his tracks and glanced at Raven, whose eyes were wide and panicked, trained on Lan Fan's shoulder that was now gushing blood. "Here!" he said, snapping her out of her daze as he gently slid the Xingese girl off his shoulder. She held the barely-able-to-stand Lan Fan on her feet while Ling ripped off his jacket and tied it tightly around the girl's stump of a shoulder, wincing as Lan Fan gasped at the sharp pain.

_What now?_ he thought desperately. Lan Fan was certain to bleed to death if they didn't make it out soon, but how would they slip past the trailing homunculi? Ling bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as he considered their situation, running through their limited options. Even with Lan Fan's shoulder wrapped tightly with his coat, the makeshift tourniquet was quickly soaked through with crimson blood and the girl was becoming paler by the second. It was only a matter of time before the homunculi caught up with them, and they were hardly prepared for a counterattack. Casting a glance at Raven beside him, he could tell from her expression that her old injury was taking its toll on her. She'd been able to hold her own against Gluttony for a time, but judging from her weary expression she didn't have much energy left.

The prince grit his teeth. He absolutely could not afford to loose both of them; his best bet would be to sneak them out of the line of sight and allow them to make their getaway while he held up the homunculi and joined back with the Elrics.

As he considered how to throw the homunculi off their scent, a stray dog wandered down their path, pausing to gape at the strange and bloodstained trio. An idea occurred to him. Making a split-second decision, he grabbed Lan Fan's discarded arm- still dripping blood- and ripped off the linen wrapping around his stomach. Moving calmly so as not to spook the animal, Ling knelt beside the grungy mutt and carefully strapped the limb to its back. The dog shifted uncomfortably, trying to shake the thing from its back, but it held on. Shooing the animal away, he almost let out a breath of relief to see blood specks clearly marking its path.

_That should keep them off our scent for a while_, he thought, returning to the girls and gathering Lan Fan back up in his arms. Ignoring the questioning look Raven gave him, he resumed sprinting in the direction opposite the route of the dog, and heard the alchemist quickly fall into step behind him. Keeping his eyes peeled and trained on the ground, he made a sharp turn down an alleyway off the main path and dragged Raven into the shadows beside an abandoned warehouse. A sewer cap lay slightly ajar atop the hole leading underground just in front of them, and Ling knew he was looking at their getaway ticket.

"Take Lan Fan and go," Ling commanded, gently sliding the barely conscious girl off his shoulder and passing her to Raven. "Go underground, find a place to hide and stay there; I'll be back."

Being careful so as not to jostle the Xingese girl's injury, Raven shouldered Lan Fan against her. It was clear from her slight grimace that the additional weight was agitating her abdomen, but she wasn't about to comment when the girl at her side had just cut her own arm off. "What about you?" she asked the prince. "What are you going to do?"

"As soon as the coast is clear, I'm going to find Ed and Al. I have a feeling those homunculi are going to start looking for them soon enough," he added grimly. "I will come back for you two as soon as I possibly can." She nodded, which he took as encouragement, and sprinted back toward the distant sound of explosions.

Ling was already gone by the time Raven murmured quietly, "Just make sure to come back."

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><p>What was probably minutes stretched into what felt like hours as Raven half-carried, half-dragged Lan Fan through the sewers of Central City. They had traveled for at least a good half mile before the alchemist deemed them far enough away from immediate danger to stop and rest. Gnawing her bottom lip as she laid the Xingese girl down on the cleanest patch of cement she could, Raven assessed Lan Fan's wound.<p>

Despite the immense pain she must have been in coupled with the situation, the cut had been made fairly cleanly, no doubt a result of combat weaponry training and a high pain tolerance. For such a small knife, Raven was amazed that the kunai had been able to slice through skin and muscle and bone without leaving a massive trail of disaster in its wake. Then again, cutting a limb off was a disastrous situation itself- one that she did not approve of. Nevertheless, the tool had served its purpose well, and made Raven's job slightly easier.

"Okay," she began, keeping her voice as calm and even in hopes of soothing the Xingese girl, "this may hurt a bit, but I need you to bear with me." Lan Fan inclined her head weakly, which Raven took as encouragement to continue.

Ripping a long strip of fabric from her jacket, she soaked the material in the murky sewer water and set the wet rag on the ground before her. Taking a deep breath, she dipped her finger in a small pool of blood gathering on the floor at the other girl's shoulder, and traced a small circle around the rag. As the transmutation progressed, she made slight adjustments to the levels of hydrogen and oxygen found in the water, uprooted all other wastes, and in seconds, the fabric was soaked in hydrogen peroxide.

Turning back toward the open wound, Raven warned, "I'm going to disinfect it before I can do anything else, but this is going to sting."

"I... cut my own... arm off," Lan Fan muttered through clenched teeth, already anticipating the burn. "I can... handle this."

Raven bit her lip to keep from smiling. It was strange how she and the Xingese warrior were so different personality-wise, and yet held the same determination when it came to hiding and managing pain. Casting the thought aside, the alchemist picked up the rag and began to dab gently at the wound. White foam immediately bubbled up wherever the cloth touched, and Lan Fan's already uneven breathing became hissing gasps as she continued to clean the wound. "I'm almost done," she reassured, moving as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

By the time she was finished, Lan Fan's shoulder was nearly coated in white bubbles- now turning pink from the blood- which made Raven's stomach twist unpleasantly. The reaction indicated that potentially harmful bacteria came into contact with her open wound, but hopefully the antiseptic would wash the stuff out and prevent an infection. Exhaling a breath of relief that the worst part of the job had passed, the alchemist removed her jacket and tied it tightly around the Xingese girl's shoulder. She winced as Raven did so, but relaxed as the immediate sting began to dull.

"How bad?" Lan Fan breathed.

"You probably won't get an infection and the bleeding is starting to slow," Raven informed her, "but that was a risky move. Had you cut any differently, you would have hit an artery and bled to death. You're lucky to be alive."

Shaking her head, Lan Fan responded breathily, "You don't understand. My arm... it was useless. I have to protect... Master Ling. I need my arm... to accomplish that."

Raven frowned, her brow furrowed. "You're still short one arm. Unless..." the other girl's intentions dawned on her. "Automail?" she guessed. The warrior nodded, causing Raven's frown to deepen. "Are you sure you want to go down that road?" she asked gravely. It had taken her months to decide whether or not she would go through her own surgery, and she worried that Lan Fan was rushing into a decision without entirely understanding the consequences. She supposed, however, that the girl saw no other option; how could she continue to perform a duty she had known all her life with a handicap such as a missing limb?

"I am certain," Lan Fan said finally, her eyelids fluttering as they fought to stay open. "I must... For the Young Lord..." She lost her battle and was soon unconscious.

After checking to make sure the other girl still had a steady- though slightly uneven- pulse, Raven exhaled in exhaustion, sat back against the cold and moldy stone wall, and assessed her own injuries. Running through the streets had been taxing enough, but the encounter with two homunculi- one of which was the leader of her country, she thought in dismay- had done quite the number on her mental and physical health. Gingerly prying her wet shirt, soaked with sweat and sewer water, away from her skin, she inspected her old injury.

The massive burn scar showed no signs of fading, but the contracting skin that had, until recently, been greatly improving looked red and irritated after the strain she had put on herself. Thankfully, her abdomen wasn't bleeding, but she could feel several small cuts stinging her back from crashing through a glass window, and had she had flesh and blood hands they would have been scraped raw from jumping out of a building. As it happened, her automail was thoroughly scratched up- especially her palms- but even more pressing was the disjointed feeling in her wrist as she rotated the joint. She hadn't grasped an opportunity to re-screw her arm since before her encounter with Lust, and now she was certain that if she continued at this pace, her arm would be in pieces by the next day. Yet on top of everything, her head, though feeling light, was pounding unbearably; probably a side effect of overexertion. That, or hitting her head against cement as she'd been tossed through a building.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall as she considered the recent turn of events. If Lan Fan indeed chose to go through with automail surgery, then she would be gone for a handful of years as she underwent rehabilitation. This could be a good thing, depending on the time frame the homunculi needed to work their plan; while it did mean that she would likely be back in Xing and safe from any immediate harm, the loss of an ally might prove troubling. And based on the fact that the Fuhrer of Amestris had revealed himself to be a homunculus, allies would be much needed in coming events.

Things were becoming a mess. Their list of allies was dwindling while a new enemy- possibly the entire Amestrian military- emerged. While keeping their eyes trained on an Ishvalan hell-bent on murdering State Alchemists, they also needed to monitor the homunculi's movements. Their key to salvation, the Philosopher's Stone, was unreachable. People were getting hurt and it would only be a matter of time before bodies began to pile up. Raven's own clock was ticking and she began to consider if she would die before her body gave out on her.

Sighing, a wry smile curled on the edges of her lips. _Looks like it's started. Soon enough, everything's going to crash and break_.

* * *

><p>"You just let this girl wander around alone in the sewers with her arm cut off like this?" the 'good doctor' Knox chided harshly at Raven, not for the first time.<p>

After retrieving the two girls camping out in the sewers, Ling had escorted them along with the help of a disguised Riza Hawkeye to an abandoned cabin on the outskirts of Central. It was far from the eye of danger- or so Raven hoped- and would keep them fairly well hidden, but it had still been a great distance from a hospital or doctor, any form of medical care for the injured Lan Fan. When Raven arrived at the conclusion that there was no amount of treatment she could manage, the Lieutenant had set back out into the city to retrieve a doctor- an old war comrade of Mustang's. Upon the woman's return, she was accompanied by the Colonel, the Elric brothers, and an older man with dark brown hair graying around his temples, deep frown lines, and glasses. He introduced himself as simply as Knox, and the niceties ended there. As his wrinkled face suggested, he was a rather grumpy man and seemed to have little patience or tolerance of the younger crowd around him. This fact had become blatantly obvious the instant he had opened his mouth to inquire about the nature of Lan Fan's injury and the minimal treatment Raven had administered. He had slipped in a few snide comments as she relayed her story, all the while working on the Xingese girl's wound. Raven wondered if his thoughts were focused more on thinking up sarcastic remarks rather than the task at hand.

Shaking his head in disproval, Knox continued in the same berating tone, "Don't blame me if she gets lockjaw."

Scowling deeply, Raven crossed her arms over her chest and shot back defensively, "First of all, she wasn't alone. I was there with her the whole time-"

"And you're an alchemist, right?" the man continued, dropping a bloodstained instrument into a pan of cleaning solution. Raven nodded hesitantly, to which Knox raised a critical eyebrow at her. "Then why didn't you use medical alchemy and close up the wound? You could have tried transmuting the proteins in her blood to make her blood clot faster and slowed, if not stopped the bleeding."

"Hey!" Edward interjected, speaking up for the first time since he had arrived. "Give her a break. Sounds to me like she did the best she could with the little knowledge she had. Give her some credit at least."

Blinking in surprise, Raven wasn't sure how to respond to the boy's statement. Given the constant bickering the two of them had been locked in for the past week and a half, she was shocked to say the least to hear him speak up on her behalf and defend her.

Doctor Knox however, was quick on the draw. "Sure, I give her credit for trying, but some real effort would have greatly helped."

Setting her jaw, Raven responded tightly, "I administered first aid; I cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide and bound it up as best I could. I only know enough medical alchemy to heal small cuts or maybe stab wounds, but this?" she gestured toward the mess that was Lan Fan's amputation. "I'm not going to mess around with a field I barely understand and risk making things worse."

Turning his back to her to dig around in his equipment bag, Knox muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "A kid shouldn't be messing around with alchemy of this caliber to begin with."

Deciding she'd had enough of the crotchety man, Raven left the room before her temper took over and she _would_ have to apply medical alchemy to a certain individual after smacking him around a few times. No one moved to stop her as she made her way out into the dark hallway. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, she resisted the urge to bang her head against a wall or perhaps punch it. Neither option would prove advantageous to the small wooden home, so she took her anger out on herself.

As much as she despised admitting it, Knox had been right; there was always more that she could have done. As an alchemist, so many options and tools were at her feet that she should have had little problem healing the injury. Completely closing the wound, probably not, but just as the doctor had described, she could have done something to the other girl's blood to keep her from bleeding out. Even with her sketchy-at-best knowledge of medical alchemy, there was always something… something she could have thought of that might have spared Lan Fan a lot of pain.

Apparently Raven was not the only one pointing all of the blame inward. As she moved to continue down the hall, she nearly tripped over Ling's foot while he sat brooding on a low bench. Light from the other room did little to illuminate his face, but Raven could clearly see worry and regret etched into his features. "S-sorry," she mumbled lamely.

Glancing up at her as if just noting her presence, Ling responded tonelessly, "Don't apologize. It's fine."

_Clearly_, Raven bit her tongue to hold the word back. His stiff posture and furrowed brow made it obvious things were _not_ fine. "Do you mind if I join you?" she asked somewhat timidly, not knowing how he would react.

"Feel free," he said without much enthusiasm. With a quiet sigh, she settled into the seat beside him, drawing her new coat around her tighter. With her own jacket thoroughly stained in blood, the Lieutenant had offered the girl hers, what almost looked to be a white lab coat as part of the woman's civilian disguise. Though how a doctor's coat was inconspicuous, Raven wasn't sure of; she was too grateful for the warm clothing to question it.

From the corner of her eye, Raven cast a sideways glance at the prince and frowned. A contrite Ling was definitely not something she was used to. And as if comforting others wasn't difficult enough for her, she was extremely hesitant in speaking or moving in a way that might only further upset him. How to best handle a situation like this? She rapidly racked her brain before deciding to take a direct approach. "What are you thinking?" she asked outright.

Sighing, Ling rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "I'm thinking how weak I am."

She blinked, not anticipating his answer and trying to formulate a response. "How are you weak? You fought off two homunculi all while protecting me and Lan Fan. You squared off against the Führer of Amestris and probably would have won if I hadn't gotten in your way. How can you say that you're weak after all that?"

Ling shook his head. "It's more than that. I wasn't strong enough to protect Lan Fan in the first place, and then I was too weak-willed to make the decision she did. If I had been stronger, I would have been able to protect her from Bradley. I would have been able to protect her from this," he nodded toward the other room, where Lan Fan's muffled cries of pain could still be heard.

Glancing down at her hands, Raven responded quietly, "You can't always save everyone."

"But why not?" Ling demanded, vexed. "Why can't I be strong enough to protect them?"

Raven chose her next words carefully. "Because it's too much of a burden to put on yourself alone. Also," a ghost of a smile played at the edges of her lips, "it leaves no point for the rest of us to get stronger. What Lan Fan did… what she plans to do… it's all because she wants to be strong enough to protect you. If you want to be strong enough for her, then stop being angry at yourself over 'what if's." She paused, suddenly unsure to whom she was giving the advice to anymore.

When her pause became more pronounced, Ling glanced over at her with a question in his eyes, but he remained silent. His dark orbs were surprisingly soft, devoid of the childish spark that usually inhabited them and replaced with something she couldn't quite identify. It was an odd mix of understanding and vulnerability and perhaps trust.

She was suddenly very aware of her staring, and directed her gaze to the open room across from them. Inside lay Gluttony, hogtied with what appeared to be steel cables, though it was difficult to tell as they were sunk deeply into his bloated flesh. She found it shameful to admit that this thing, this blundering, obese idiot, had nearly eaten her. Ling spoke of his own weaknesses, while she felt to be the weakest of all. "You're not the one who needs to worry about being strong," she murmured quietly, not taking her eyes off the squirming homunculus. "It's the rest of us that do."

From her peripherals, she saw Ling opening his mouth to comment, but closed it as the sound of nearing footsteps drifted to their ears. The light of a lantern spilled into the hall and illuminated the figure of Roy Mustang as he made his way over to the two teenagers. Completely disregarding Raven, he stopped before Ling and offered the Xingese boy his hand in introduction. "I'm with the State Military," he said formally. "Name's Colonel Roy Mustang."

Instead of accepting the open hand as Raven expected he might do, Ling rose to his feet and made an even greater formal gesture with his hands. She vaguely recalled it was an honorary form of greeting in the eastern country Xing. "My name is Ling Yao, the twelfth son of the emperor of Xing." Finally, he extended his hand and gave the Colonel's a shake, a small smile gracing his features.

Raven raised a somewhat bemused eyebrow at their exchange, unused to the formality emanating from either of the two. True, Mustang was a man of uniform and therefore expected to behave in such ways, but she had difficulty picturing the miniskirt-infatuated pyromaniac giving a genuine, pleasant greeting. As for Ling... she had seen the prince be stone cold serious when necessary, and not moments ago he had been in such a remorseful state, but a fifteen year old giving an adult that he had known for all of five seconds a formal introduction? It was odd to say the least, but also somewhat entertaining.

Clearing her throat, Raven commented, "And I am Raven Guardel, neither a Colonel in the Amestrian military or a child of the emperor of Xing."

Rolling his eyes, Mustang continued to ignore the dark haired girl's presence. "I apologize in your misfortune of knowing Iron Haste," he remarked, earning him a sharp glare from said alchemist.

"She's fairly easy to handle," Ling responded, casting a side glance at the annoyed girl still sitting on the bench. "Anyway, I appreciate you finding a doctor for Lan Fan."

The corner of Mustang's mouth turned up in a reassuring half-smile. "It was no problem. Thank you for helping us with the Ross incident." His expression turned stonier as a rustling noise sounded from behind him. "And also," he continued, turning around and holding the lamp out in the open room to illuminate Gluttony's bound figure, "for bringing this thing in."

The light's appearance caused the homunculus to squirm against his steel trappings, but the taut cables refused to give. They squeaked under the pressure working against them with every move the fat thing made, but thankfully showed no sign of loosening. At the end of the hall, Edward, Alphonse and Knox joined the trio gazing at the homunculus, each one trying to formulate a plan as to what to do with it now that it was in their possession.

"Well," the older man said as he appraised Gluttony with the calculating and curious eyes of a scientist waiting to cut open a new test subject. Raven shivered at the thought, recalling an earlier comment that the doctor spent most of his time working as a coroner. "What do we have here?" he inquired.

"That's Gluttony," Ling answered simply. "He's a homunculus."

Knox gasped in surprise, and Raven expected him to accuse the Xingese boy of lying. But when no one else reacted to the information, he had to face the reality that the thing in front of them was indeed a homunculus. And as if that piece of news wasn't startling enough to the man, Mustang added, "He and his friends appear to have connections among some of the military's senior staff."

"Just 'some' you say?" Ling remarked sharply, catching everyone's immediate attention. "It goes far deeper than that. Your Führer, King Bradley... I believe it's possible he's a homunculus too."

The house seemed to hold its breath from the onslaught on new information. Edward, being the first to recover- or perhaps first to doubt- stared at Raven for affirmation. "Is it true?" he demanded.

Nodding tiredly, Raven explained, "His left eye, the one hidden under the eye patch, it was marked with an Ouroboros symbol. Also, went we were attacked by Gluttony, Bradley was with him. The two of them were working together."

"No way," Ed breathed.

Shaking his head, Alphonse murmured disbelievingly, "Our ruler? A homunculus?"

"Although," Ling said, "Bradley doesn't have the same sort of inhuman presence that you get from Gluttony. At his core, he still feels like a regular person."

"Another thing," Alphonse added, "if the Führer is a homunculus, how can he possibly have a son? It said in that book that the homunculi have no reproductive capabilities."

Raven's brow furrowed at the observation. She had never given much thought to the anatomy of a homunculus, but she supposed that he was right; how can an artificial being possibly be able to reproduce? But Knox shook his head. "No... The Führer's son, Selim, is adopted. There's no direct blood relation between him and his father."

The room was silent for a while as the fact of the matter sunk in. As much as any of them wished to deny it, the leader of their nation was not human, and he was working fiercely against them. After what felt like an eternity, the silence was shattered as Mustang scoffed. "Whether he's monster or human..." he shook his head as if he still could not grasp the concept. "Either way, these new developments will make it easier to remove him from the seat of power." A confident grin began to stretch its way across his face that Raven didn't like. "First we can get information out of this one," he nodded back toward the fat homunculus, "and I'll take his Stone. It may prove useful in treating my man."

_Treating his man?_ Raven questioned, then a terrible thought hit her. _Something must have happened to Havoc_, she deduced. Just as she opened her mouth to voice her concern, Ling shouted, "Hey, you! Lan Fan lost her arm to get him! He's our captive! We're taking him back to Xing!"

"Hold it!" Edward interjected. "It could help us get our bodies back! We've been working on that for a long time! I'm not going to let you just waltz off with him!"

As the group burst into full argument, Raven felt her jaw drop in bewilderment. "Hang on a second!" she demanded, jumping to her feet and moving to stand between the bickering Mustang and Ling. "Are we really having this conversation?" Raven vented in astonishment. "The homunculi have infiltrated the military- the Führer is one of them- and you're arguing who gets to take home the fat slob over there!" she jabbed a finger at the roiling mass of flesh for emphasis. "You can't be serious!"

"In case you haven't noticed," the Colonel remarked, "we have a Philosopher's Stone in our possession. If you're that unconcerned about it, I assume you don't mind if I take it," he said with a cocky smirk.

Immediately, three voices rose in shouts of disagreement, with Raven's voice adding a fourth. It quickly escalated into a thunderstorm of who was most entitled to stake a claim on the Stone, and Raven even found herself vying for its ownership. Voices rose, tones became more and more desperate, and no one thought to notice the homunculus viciously straining against his bonds until the sickening sound of tearing metal reached their ears, instantly silencing all bickering.

And then all hell broke loose.


	27. Never Alone

**Disclaimer: I still don't own FMA.**

**I lost count how many times I rewrote this chapter. Seriously, I must have done this over ten times, and I'm still not entirely happy with it. I can only hope you guys like it.**

**I apologize for the incredibly long wait; unforseen events and whatnot rose, but hopefully now I can get back into the swing of things quickly. Thank you once again to all the people who continue to read/review/favorite/follow. I honestly don't know how you put up with me. **

**Since I don't want to continue boring you with this author's note, for your entertainment, here is chapter 27.**

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><p>Based off observation and personal experience, Raven had come to gather that the homunculi could be incredibly strong and fast, and when necessary, absolutely brutal. When they were threatened, they became increasingly hostile and vicious. In a way they were like animals; docile at first, but feral when provoked or angered.<p>

Gluttony took that to an entirely new level.

Even as she darted out from the half-demolished cabin, Gluttony's image stayed imprinted behind her lids. It was as if his lower jaw had dropped down to his stomach, a black void opening up in his maw. What appeared to be his ribcage had split apart to form grotesque teeth lining his enormous mouth. The homunculus had turned feral, raving something about Mustang killing Lust, and for the first time, Raven was truly terrified of the homunculi. She had faced life or death situations during her encounters with the artificial beings, but never had she seen one completely loose control and become a monster.

None of this, however, compared to the fear she felt when a giant eye had blinked open from within Gluttony's mouth. It was the same eye that had haunted her dreams many a night, the same eye that stole her life away. The Eye of Truth.

At first she had been immobile, frozen in shock and fear as the single eye peered unblinking at her as if it could see her soul. It had, in fact, she reminded herself, which did nothing to lessen her anxiety.

In the end, it had been Ling who managed to get her to move- and breathe, for that matter- as he hauled her deeper inside the house and out of Gluttony's range. He began shouted orders at her that she heard distantly, as if there were cotton in her ears, but she could clearly guess his intentions as he gestured toward Lan Fan and the collapsing house around them.

Hauling the half-conscious Xingese girl up and out, Raven found the ice in her blood slowly begin to thaw as a heated burning sensation crept along her stomach and her senses came back about at the sharp jab of pain. As the two of them carried Lan Fan over to Knox's car parked just outside, Raven became very aware of the throbbing in her abdomen that seemed to worsen with every step she took. Even as they carefully lowered Lan Fan into the car, Raven couldn't hide the occasional wince as her old wound continued to take its toll on her.

"Come on! Hurry up!" Knox urged agitatedly from the driver's seat. "We haven't got all night! We need to get moving!"

Moving more was about the last thing Raven felt like doing with her side inflamed as it currently was, but she was not about to start complaining, and certainly not in front of Knox. Leaning tiredly against the side of the car, Raven moved her weight off her left side and focused on calming her body down, doing her best to ignore Ling's worried glances.

"Rae," the prince prompted, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Are you feeling okay?"

Shrugging halfheartedly, she forced her eyes away from his, afraid they might betray her and reveal how shaken she was and the obvious pain in her side. Instead, she trained them on the woods around them and scanned the area for signs of the enraged homunculus. "What happened to Ed and Al and the Colonel?" she asked Ling, still avoiding his eyes. "Can you sense their chi?"

Frowning at her lack of response to his question, Ling nevertheless nodded. His eyes swept through the thicket of trees as if he were following their movements. Perhaps he was, given his ability. "They're still out there. We can't just leave them behind," he directed at the doctor.

"No way," Knox said firmly, his tone unyielding. "I'm a civilian, not military. I'm not about to die in the middle of a battle with some crazed monster!"

"But-" Raven interjected, ready to argue when Ling held up a hand to silence her.

She shot him a questioning glance, to which he responded with a simple, "Just give him a minute."

Seconds ticked by and just as she was about to voice a question, Knox's irritated voice muttered, "Dammit! What's taking those idiots so long?"

A triumphant grin twitched at the corner of Ling's mouth, and Raven raised an impressed eyebrow. "Xingese psychic abilities?" she teased lightly.

"Nope," the prince replied, moving to stand beside her. "Just a predictable response."

She chuckled once, then winced as the movement sent a pins-and-needles tingling across her stomach. Chewing the inside of her cheek, she gingerly pulled her shirt up and inspected her grievous wound. The skin around the burn was redder now than it had been back in the sewers, and the scar itself looked more than a little aggravated. _Just what I need right now_, she groaned internally.

The grin slowly faded from Ling's lips as his eyes flashed down to her stomach, and she realized this was the first he had seen of it. This was the first anyone outside her doctors had seen it, in fact. "Is your wound alright?" he asked, clearly fighting a grimace that would mirror Raven's own twisted expression.

Shrugging, she replied in a tight-lipped tone, "It could be worse. The skin could've torn open and started bleeding." She bit her lip as she rested her cool metal hand on her agitated side, feeling a quick flare-up of pain at the touch before letting out a relieved breath. _One of the limited perks of having automail_, Raven thought wryly.

"Do you mind if I take a look?" Ling asked abruptly, catching the dark haired girl off guard.

Gazing at him in disbelief, she cautiously questioned his motives. "Why?"

"I may not be a doctor or anything, but I do know a thing or two about odd injuries like these," he gestured toward her marred stomach.

After a bit of internal debate, she mentally shrugged and returned her ice-pack hand to her side, wordlessly granting the prince permission. A flicker of awe passed in his eyes only to be immediately replaced with a contained delight. She tried to ignore the fluttering in her stomach as he leaned over and pressed a surprisingly gentle hand to her abdomen. It was not as easy however, to hide the slight tint of pink her cheeks had adopted. One way or another, with or without her consent, the two of them seemed to constantly be in some form of contact, and for reasons yet unknown to her, Raven had yet to push him away.

If Ling noticed her blush, he didn't comment, to which she was immensely grateful for, since Knox was still well within earshot. Cocking his head a bit to the side, he lightly poked the center of her wound where she had been stabbed by Lust. Wincing as an uncomfortable tingle shot up her spine, Raven managed to remain still as Ling continued his investigation.

"So?" she prompted, slightly put off by his silence. "What's the verdict?"

Straightening up, he removed his hand from her skin and the flurry in her stomach settled down somewhat. His face was smooth and blank as he replied, "I'm afraid it seems you have a large burn scar on your stomach, miss." The corner of his mouth cracked a smile.

Rolling her eyes, Raven felt her own lips turn upward at the prince's sagely words. "I hadn't noticed," she drawled sarcastically.

Ling's eyebrows shot up in concern. "Well it's a good thing I told you then. Who knows how long you would've walked around not knowing about it." Tossing an arm over her shoulders, he continued in the same light, teasing tone, "Aren't you lucky to have me around to tell you these things?"

She chuckled quietly, grateful that he no longer seemed so put-off at the sight of her old wound, and that- as always- he was all too good at making her forget in times of pain. "I don't really know what to tell you outside what you probably already figured out," Ling said, his tone a bit more serious. "How does it feel?"

Biting the inside of her cheek, Raven replied honestly, "It hurts and it's a little hard to move, but I think if I-"

"Hey!" a familiar, childlike voice called, and the two teens looked out towards the woods to see Alphonse half carrying, half dragging Mustang out of the thick trees. His older brother and Lieutenant Hawkeye followed close behind, shooting furtive glances back at the forest in anticipation. When the two at the lead neared the vehicle, the armored boy breezed right past Ling and Raven and practically shoved the Colonel through the open door into the backseat. The pair sidestepped out of Al's path and

Edward slowed his pace as he approached the car, his eyes widening as they registered the scene before him. "W-what are you doing?" he interrogated uncomprehendingly, his gold orbs fixed on Ling's arm over the girl's shoulder tenderly, her own hand lying over her stomach. Raven could nearly see the infinite scenarios running through his mind, and none of them good, much less appropriate.

Hastily swatting the prince's hand away and pulling her shirt back down over her exposed skin, she felt her face flush tomato red. "The opposite of whatever conclusion you're jumping to!" she replied defensively. Movement from behind the older Elric caught her attention, which she used to her advantage and quickly changed the subject. "Didn't you guys take care of Fat Boy?" she asked, partly to direct the conversation away from her and partly out of curiosity. If they had come back alive- though with Mustang in less than peak condition- it should have meant that Gluttony was either imprisoned or dead. Yet she could clearly see trees toppling in the distance, a savagely inhuman cry echoing throughout the woods.

Mashing his mouth into a tight line, Ed's expression gave her a clear and definite 'no.' Or rather, a distant shout of "Nooooo!" answered for him as Raven presumed the homunculus realized his prey was far out of reach.

"We set up a trap to lure him away from here," Edward explained, glancing back where Gluttony continued to shout incoherently. "He must've fallen for the log-Mustang decoy."

"It doesn't sound like he's very happy about it," his younger brother observed, further puzzling Raven as to what this 'log-Mustang' was and how it had managed to annoy the homunculus even more than the actual Mustang.

As the two brothers made certain that the Colonel was loaded safely in the car and not lying haphazardly across the seat as he had been when Alphonse had dumped him in, Riza climbed into the back with him and the barely-conscious Lan Fan sprawled along most of the seat. Raven cast a furtive glance at the Xingese warrior, struck once again with a sharp pang of guilt that she had not done everything in her power to save the girl, that she may have been able to keep her arm. All she could do now was assure that Lan Fan received the best medical attention available, and that she was not the one to administer it. "Lieutenant," she called softly, feeling the woman's eyes snap to her face. "Can you make sure that Lan Fan gets out of this okay and gets proper treatment?"

Raven was very aware of Ling's surprised eyes trained on her, but made no show of noticing, only concerned with Riza's answer. The military woman nodded curtly, to which the corner of her mouth twitched up in a relieved and grateful smile. Her light mood was almost immediately shattered when Mustang leaned his head out the window past her and shouted disbelievingly into her ear, "You expect me to run away and leave this to you, Elric?!"

Jerking back from the vehicle, Raven scowled at the Colonel and opened her mouth to snap a snide comment when Ed responded with an indignant, "If you stay, you'll just get in our way!"

"Yeah!" Alphonse affirmed. "Leave!"

"They're right," Hawkeye agreed. "You won't be any use here. Sorry," she muttered the word without conviction, which made Raven crack a smile.

As Mustang muttered unintelligibly to himself, Edward gave one last distasteful glance at his superior before turning to Raven with firm eyes. "You too," he ordered, jerking his thumb toward the back seat. "There's room for one more, and your name's written all over it."

Raven felt the grin playing at her lips fall flat while blinked at him uncomprehendingly as if he'd told her to jump off a cliff. In fact, she would have preferred it over the request he currently demanded from her. Setting her jaw, she took a small step back from the vehicle. "No."

Rolling his eyes, the blonde retorted impatiently, "You're just as bad as this moron," he indicated toward the still-moping Colonel. "You haven't fully healed yet; you're in no condition to fight."

"Don't lump me in with Pony Boy," she shot back, inching another step away from Edward. "And you're in no position to be giving me orders, short stack," the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Even though his statement had been entirely true, she had no intention of sitting on the sidelines with Mustang while her friends fought her battles for her. Even as her abdomen continued to throb, she was determined to show her friends that she would not give in to weakness. Even if it meant picking a fight that could easily turn into a brawl.

"What did you just call me?!" Ed fumed, advancing on her with his fists balled at his sides. Raven instinctively took a step backward and felt herself bump into Ling, who laid his hands on her shoulders- whether to protect her or keep her from attacking the blonde, she wasn't sure. "I'll knock you out if I have to!" he continued, holding up a threatening fist. "But one way or another, you're getting in the damned car!"

"Just try and make me, half-pint!" she snapped, kicking a leg at his stomach which he caught with ease. He began to drag her back toward the vehicle, shouting insults at her as she attempted to anchor herself to Ling's arm and steady herself. The two alchemists yelled over each other, not caring if all of Amestris and the homunculi heard them as they continued their verbal battle.

"Both of you! Knock it off right now!" Alphonse shouted in vexation as he stormed over to the pair and cuffed them roughly on the back of their heads.

Edward immediately released his grip on Raven's leg and she promptly fell to the ground, dragging Ling along with her. As they disentangled themselves- Raven blushing a bit as she recounted how often this seemed to be happening between the two of them- the dark haired girl rubbed her sore skull and cast a darting glare between the two Elrics. "What was that for?" she demanded hotly from the younger brother as Ling helped her to her feet, barely conscious of the fact that he continued to maintain a light hold on her arm to steady her.

"Because," Alphonse carefully annunciated, "in case you forgot, there's a homunculus out there looking for us," he gestured toward the thick woods around them. "You guys are wasting time with pointless arguing and giving our position away simultaneously!" He sighed, forcing himself to take a deep breath with a patience that only _he_could manage. "If you're able to keep up and you're that insistent on coming with us, then fine," he conceded, "you can tag along." A sly smirk spread its way across Raven's lips, and as she was about to stick her tongue out at the older Elric, Alphonse amended, "But, you have to do as Brother says. Within reason," he added quickly when a devious grin lit up Edward's face.

"What?" Mustang piped, clearly miffed. "She's in no better condition than I am! How is this fair?"

Rolling her eyes, the girl in question retorted, "Forget fair! Don't you have a job that you should be doing? The leader of our country is a homunculus, and you don't think that's worth mentioning or acting on?"

Hawkeye blinked at her in shock. "Leader of our country… You aren't talking about Fuhrer Bradley, are you?" she asked in disbelief.

"We can talk about it later," Knox spoke up, clearly in a hurry to hightail it out of the area. "Now, get in," he commanded in a no-nonsense tone, staring down the adolescents outside the vehicle.

The four of them shared a knowing glance, an agreement passing between them. "The car looks full," Ed stated. "You go ahead."

If jaws could drop to the floor, the doctor's certainly did. "You dumbasses!" he chided.

"You can't really believe we'll let a couple of children fight our battle for us!" Riza added, sounding much more reasonable than Knox.

"With the senior staff involved in this, you're gonna need all the help you can get," Ling pointed out.

Ed grinned, already sensing a victory. "And that would include getting whatever information we can outta this Gluttony guy, wouldn't you say?"

"We'll stay here and find out what we can," Alphonse assured.

"And really," Raven added in a somewhat resigned tone, "after everything we've been through, can we honestly still be called children?"

"This was our mission to begin with," Edward built on, "and we're going to see it through."

It took a bit of arm twisting, but the adults finally relented, though not without a certain requirement. Predicting that they would need all the firepower they could get their hands on, the Lieutenant offered Edward a loaded pistol, a means of protection, she had called it. A weapon for killing was the definition the Elrics seemed to find most suiting. Raven, however, saw in it a grudging reminder of the fact that she had already taken a life. The small part of her that still retained a childlike innocence could see the Elrics' perspective, their hesitance of holding a device that held the potential of destruction. She was no longer a child, however, and she knew from firsthand experience that hesitancy like that was an easy way to get killed. _Kill or be killed_, Raven mused.

She was quite literally yanked from her thoughts as Ling tugged on her arm, signaling her that it was time to head out. With one last glance at the group huddled in the car, Raven took off beside the prince, pushing past the protests of her inflamed abdomen. Just as they pushed through the first row of trees, the screech of tires against dirt and gravel filled the air as the vehicle sped away, leaving four teenagers alone with an enraged homunculus, and no plan in mind whatsoever.

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><p>"I know we said we'd stay behind and all…" Ed mumbled, trying and failing to repress a series of shudders going down his spine. "But that's seriously freaky." He cast a furtive glance at Raven standing behind him, looking ill at ease herself. "Still think you made the right choice?"<p>

Wincing as she continued to observe the flailing Gluttony, the black haired girl muttered, "S-shut up. He's not… that bad," she sounded unconvincing, even to herself.

"He seems to be a bit angry," Ling noted unhelpfully.

"How are we going to catch him?" Alphonse groaned in exasperation.

Raven bit her lip in contemplation. Why hadn't they formulated a plan before charging headfirst into the situation? _Oh, yeah_, she thought snidely. _Because it's us_. With that optimistic thought at the front of her mind, Raven began sorting through strategies of how to best handle the unpredictable Gluttony when a rustling of leaves from behind caught her attention. She turned her head toward the sound as the others did the same, which might have been comical had their situation not been so tense. In a flash, Ling's sword was held in front of him at the ready, which instantly made Raven wary. He wouldn't have done so if he hadn't sensed something off. It was no mere bunny sneaking up on them in the bushes.

"What was that?" Al whispered anxiously, clearly not wanting to be sandwiched between two potential threats.

Craning her neck up to see over the hilly terrain, Raven had to squint to make out the dark shape silhouetted against the dark trees, even with her eyes adjusted to the dark. "A… dog?" she asked aloud, not sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her. However, she could clearly identify it as a four-legged animal, and judging from the shape of its head, it looked to be a large dog, possibly a Doberman. What on earth such a dog would be doing in the middle of the woods was a complete mystery to her, though something told her that this was no ordinary domestic, or even wild dog.

The creature seemed to disregard the small group of onlookers below it, gazing intently at the flailing homunculus behind them. Suddenly, it barked in a very human voice, "Stop it! Right now, Gluttony!"

Raven had seen an animal speak before. She had witnessed a chimera use human language. However, it had been in short, clipped sentences using a raspy, barely human tone. This creature before them, whatever it was, sounded as if a human voice box had been implanted inside a dog's throat. Needless to say, everyone was stunned. "A… talking dog?" Edward breathed in astonishment.

Somehow, the dog seemed to grin at the blonde in a way that no animal could be capable of. "Hey. Long time, no see," the canine greeted, its fangs looking less than welcoming. Pleasantries abruptly ended there, as the dog's body began to spasm, limbs elongating and stretching grotesquely. One instant they were staring at a dog, the next a very familiar and very despised palm tree of a homunculus. Envy's eyes glinted dangerously as he looked on at them, a nasty grin playing at the edges of his mouth. "How are ya, Fullmetal pipsqueak?" he baited.

Edward's anger surged in a nearly visible red aura around him, and Raven was sure that a vein had just burst in his forehead. One instant he was standing behind her, the next charging uphill at Envy with his fists balled at his sides. "Dammit, I told you before! Don't call me short!" He launched a wild flying side kick at the green-haired homunculus, which was effortlessly dodged, though Ed was quick to prep his fists for another shot.

Much to Raven's surprise, Envy threw his hands up in front of him in a nonthreatening gesture. "Hey, calm down!" he urged. "I'm just here to get Gluttony back! Nothing more than that! I don't want to fight you, pipsqueak!"

The instant the word 'pipsqueak' was out of the homunculus' mouth, Ed shouted furiously, "That's five now!" Raven could barely keep up with how fast he moved as he flung his iron fist at Envy's face.

Dodging at the very last second, Envy leaped into the air, narrowly missing the full wrath of the Fullmetal pipsqueak as the tree truck where his head used to be was snapped in half. He landed lightly on a thick branch hanging just above where Raven, Ling, and Al were gathered, still watching in silent awe as the 'peaceful' Envy continued to provoke the already-irate Edward. "What are you talking about?" the homunculus demanded, completely disregarding the disbelieving onlookers directly below.

"That's five times!" Edward repeated hotly. "You called me 'pipsqueak' twice here, and three times in the laboratory! Don't tell me you've forgotten already!?" He clenched his iron fist to demonstrate what would become of Envy if the statement were true.

"Impressive," Envy drawled, his tone dripping boredom. "You've got a sharp memory, there." As if already forgetting the blonde's presence- or the presence of the slack-jawed trio below him for that matter- he leapt off his perch and landed quietly in the clearing Gluttony was standing in. Turning to glare disdainfully at his fat brethren, he chided, "You're becoming bothersome."

Ignoring the other homunculus' statement, Gluttony sputtered, "Mustang was here! Mustang killed Lust! Swallow! Swallow! Swallow him up!"

"You don't get the Colonel," Envy instructed. "Or the Elric brothers. Maybe the Guardel girl," he added as if it were an afterthought.

"Why not?" Gluttony wailed.

Raven nearly choked. "Excuse me?" she demanded. "Whatever happened to that crap you were spouting at Lab Five? Aren't I supposed to be one of your 'precious sacrifices'?" Though the idea of becoming some kind of human sacrifice was less than thrilling, Raven was sure that it was the only reason she had not yet been killed. If that notion had been revoked, then she was thoroughly screwed.

Folding his arms over his chest, Envy replied apathetically, "You're starting to be more trouble than you're worth. Maybe if you don't go getting yourself killed before we need you, then consider yourself a candidate for sacrifice."

Raven was about to remind him that the only reason she was in a near-constant state of debilitation due to the other homunculi's assassination attempts when Ling interrupted, "I've sensed this multiplicity before. How many people are inside you, homunculus?"

Frowning at the boy's pointed question, Envy attempted to brush it off coolly as he leaned against Gluttony, using his large head as an armrest. "I know you; you're that kid who crossed swords with Wrath, aren't you?" he smirked, obviously informed on the outcome the encounter.

"What do you mean 'kid'?" Ling questioned indignantly. "I happen to be the twelfth son of the Emperor of Xing! My name is-"

"Eat him," Envy ordered.

Gluttony was more than happy to oblige as he sprinted toward the prince, arms outstretched in front of him to grab a hold of his meal. It took even less time for Ling to turn tail and tear off in the opposite direction, shouts of protest trailing behind him as the homunculus gained on his heels. Watching the two of them race around in long circle around the group, Raven rubbed her forehead in embarrassment. For the son of an emperor, Ling didn't quite seem to fit the bill of Prince Charming as he scampered about in the same fashion as the flailing Gluttony.

Shrugging the occurrence off, Ed cracked knuckles and grinned confidently at his brother. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

"Looks like they really aren't allowed to do anything to us," Al observed, noting how Envy continued to watch the three of them without any indication of provoking a fight.

Raven was ready to change that. "If that's the case, then shall we?" She transmuted her automail knuckles into spikes.

Frowning, Edward narrowed his eyes at her. "I want you to stay back. Leave these guys to us."

Shaking her head before he finished speaking, Raven countered, "I know I said I would do as you wanted, but… well, I lied."

"Rae..." Ed warned, his eyes daring her to argue.

She was more than happy to oblige. "It'll be two and two; perfectly even," she reasoned. "Besides, I want to get back at that one for calling me cute," she nodded toward the green haired homunculus.

"And how are two against one even?" Envy spoke up, a cocky smirk plastered on his face as if _they_were the ones disadvantaged.

"I said _even_," Raven repeated, tracing a transmutation circle on the back of her hand. "I never said _fair_."

Touching a hand to the ground, a wall of earth towered up and divided their group just as Ling and Gluttony passed through. While the brothers now stood facing a flustered Gluttony who had just ran headfirst into the wall, Ling and Raven opposed the still-grinning Envy.

The homunculus raised an impressed eyebrow at her, amused by her decision. "Very well then," he said, slipping into a fighting stance. "Let's see what you've got, he taunted.

Righting himself and facing his new enemy, Ling held his sword poised at the ready. "You sure about this?" he asked uncertainly.

"Hell no," she answered truthfully, thinking of her sore midsection. "But, why the hell not?" she reasoned, charging the patiently-waiting Envy, her fists itching to connect with his smug face. Despite her faulty reasoning, Ling shadowed her movements and fell quickly into step behind.

For a while it was like a game of cat and mouse as Ling and Raven tried to land a hit on the always dodging homunculus, never managing a single blow yet Envy made no attempt to counterattack. Though the pair of teens had completely different fighting styles, Raven was surprised to find that they weren't tripping over each other, which, she figured, was due to Ling's never-failing vigilance. That, coupled with their extra weapons should have given them the advantage or at least the ability to get a solid hit on Envy. _So why the hell is he still acting like he's already won?_ Raven internally fumed.

"Well now, I'm amazed," the homunculus leered, dodging Raven's punch with ease. "You two can actually hold your own." He threw a punch that managed to clip her shoulder, sending her off balance and falling to the ground at his feet.

Gritting her teeth at the sharp pain stabbing into her back, she swiped her leg at his ankles and threw him off a bit. He took a step backward to regain his balance, and Ling grasped the opportunity and sliced deeply into Envy's side, his sword sticking the blow.

To Raven's astonishment, the homunculus only grinned. "You fell for it!" he laughed, his arm morphing into a long snake that wound its way around Ling's sword-arm and throat. As Raven tried to pull herself up, Envy's foot came down onto her stomach, directly over her aching wound. Pain exploded in her abdomen and all the air emptied from her lungs. Stars danced in her vision as she tried to suck a breath in, and even as the pressure disappeared from her midsection, the ache remained.

When she was finally able to draw a proper breath and her eyesight cleared, she managed to roll out of the way just as Envy came crashing down to the ground where she had been lying moments ago. Distancing herself from the homunculus, she felt her brows furrow as she saw him sink to his knees and literally sink into the ground up to his ankles. Glancing up at Ling, she knew from his bewildered expression that he hadn't expected it either, and hadn't hit Envy with enough force to push him half a foot into the dirt. Either Ling had unknowingly gained superhuman strength or Envy was much heavier than he let on.

"That was a dirty trick," the homunculus growled, clutching the stump where his right arm used to be.

"People have been trying to assassinate me since I was a kid," Ling stated simply, hauling Raven to her feet while she gaped at him in amazement. She had known that being the son of the emperor might have made Ling a target of rivalry from other clans, but assassination attempts? No wonder he was a skilled and attentive fighter. "Under the circumstances, you can't blame a guy for learning to fight dirty," he continued, now advancing on the homunculus with Raven in tow. "So, have you had enough yet? Are you going to come with me quietly now?" He directed his sword at Envy's face, poised between a pair of glaring violet eyes full of pure loathing. "I just want whatever information you can give me on becoming immortal. Or shall we go again?" the corner of his mouth turned up in a confident smirk.

Raven bit back a grimace. She highly doubted her side was willing to go another round against the homunculus, but instinct told her that Envy was not the type to simply relent, especially to a human. Just as she predicted, he snapped spitefully, "You scum! A mere human like you can't condescend to me!"

"It's no less than you deserve for underestimating us humans," Raven said, positioning her automail in Envy's face and tracing a transmutation circle on the base plate. "The minute you do is the minute you die!" A loud crack resounded in the air as she fired a screw into his forehead, sending both of them skidding backward. She crashed into Ling who managed to keep her upright, but Envy was swifter to recover. Wiping the blood from his eyes as he began to regenerate, he launched himself at the pair just as Ed and Al crashed through the wall behind them.

Ducking out of the green haired homunculus' reach as he threw a wild punch, Raven snapped at the brothers, "You're kind of defeating the purpose of me putting a wall up and keeping the fights separate!" Tuning out Edward's irate retort, she shot another screw at Envy's neck as he flew past her, stunning him and allowing Ling to move in and slice off his leg. She sucked in a much-needed breath, still recovering from her earlier blow to her already-wounded side, and grinned as Envy fell in a heavy heap to the ground.

Making his way leisurely over to where the homunculus lay, Ling held his sword menacingly over Envy's head, ready to give the finishing blow when Envy's form began to flicker. In a flash of red light he was gone, replaced instead with an armless and injured Lan Fan that gazed up at Ling with sorrowful eyes.

Raven nearly choked on her own breath. It was no longer dirty fighting, it was a despicably low move that even she- who didn't particularly like Lan Fan to begin with- would not act against. Ling was no different. He stood frozen, unmoving even as Lan Fan's mouth curled into a sick smile.

Taking advantage of their hesitation, Envy shouted, "Go for it, Gluttony!"

Glancing back over her shoulder, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she found herself nearly face-to-face with the fat homunculus, the single grey eye still piercing her very being. Raven's blood ran cold once again as she locked gazes with the haunting orb, turning her into an ice sculpture and leaving her unable to move.

What happened next was a blur. One instant she was facing Gluttony as he opened his jaws wide, the next Edward's form flickered into her line of sight, and then Ling's arm clamped onto her shoulder.

"Rae! Get back!" Ling shouted, flinging himself in front of her as a shield and shoving her backward. On instinct, she grabbed at fistfuls of air to catch herself as she began to fall. Her fingers snagged hold of the end of Ling's coat, and the next thing she knew she was being swallowed up into a black void.

* * *

><p>Even before she opened her eyes, Raven was very aware of the pain rippling through her entire body. It felt as if she had jumped off a building and landed face down on solid asphalt. Everything ached, especially her head which was about ready to split open as a migrant pounded against her skull. But more than anything, she was aware of the sharp burning in her lungs and a tightening in her chest, as if she were drowning.<p>

Her eyes snapped open as a fit of coughing overtook her, and she pulled her head up out of a large pool of dark water as she breathed the liquid in. After a few minutes of forcing the water out of her lungs, her breathing returned to normal and her eyesight began to clear.

Wiping away the wetness from her face, she stared, dazed, as her hand came away stained red with blood. Gently feeling along the side of her face, she felt no familiar sting of an open cut and confusion washed over her. _A concussion maybe?_she guessed. As she began to inspect her head, she glanced back at the pool that had caused her so much misery, and froze.

What she had initially believed to be a puddle of water was an ocean of blood.

Gasping, she looked down at herself and found her body and clothes soaked and stained with crimson, her body lying in the ankle-deep flood. Her hands began to shake as memories flushed to the surface of her mind. An endless black void. The ground hidden beneath a thick blanket of blood. Tattered building remains lying in pitiful, shattered heaps. Small flames licking at everything in their path. A tightening in her chest that made it nearly impossible to breathe or think.

She was trapped in her nightmare.

Panic gripped her like a vice, squeezing the breath out of her lungs and tightening around her heart. She felt as if her blood had been replaced with ice water, slowly freezing in her veins and splintering her apart. What little breath she could take in came in sudden gasps, but she was barely aware of this. Her mind was screaming at her, fragmented images of the horrid dream dancing behind her lids while a childlike voice echoed in her ears. _Empty and alone_, Devin's voice sang, sounding like nails on a chalkboard as the words reverberated through her skull.

Clutching her head, she began to curl in on herself as if it would somehow lessen the pain. If anything it multiplied, and she felt the fabric of her sanity begin to fray. Her throat constricted until she was barely able to breathe, barely able to move, barely able to think. She no longer cared if she was admitting weakness, and it mattered little to her if anyone heard.

She titled her head back and screamed.

* * *

><p>Ling was considering the edibility of rocks when he heard a piercing scream tear through the silence of the black void.<p>

He froze immediately, a chill traveling up his spine as his mind recognized the voice's owner. Though he'd never heard her make the sound, he knew it had been Raven. And whatever the cause may be, if she was screaming, something horrible must have happened.

Before he was even conscious of the decision, his feet were moving, carrying him toward the source of Raven's voice. He pushed past the churning of his stomach as he sloshed through the sea of blood that was the ground, trying to ignore the possibility that some of it may belong to a certain black-haired individual.

After what seemed to be an eternity of running through the boundless maze of rubble, Ling tracked Raven to a small column, and froze. Her small form was curled inward on itself, arms hugging her knees to her chest and face buried. Even from six feet away and her face hidden, he could hear her haggard breathing, sounding painfully uneven as she tried and failed to draw in a reassuring breath. Her entire body trembled, though it was clear from her posture that it was a chill that had nothing to do with the cold.

Approaching her cautiously, Ling called softly, "Rae?"

The girl stopped breathing for an instant, and Ling instinctively flinched, immediately sensing something very wrong. "... away..." he barely heard her hoarse whisper.

Taking a tentative step closer, Ling calmly asked, "What did you say?"

Her head snapped up, and Ling froze in his tracks. Her tear-drenched face was enough to make him uneasy, as he had never seen her in such a state before, but her eyes were downright unsettling. They were wild, torn between absolute terror and insanity, a feeling that seemed to radiate from her entire body. Those strange green orbs stared unblinking at him as she screamed, "_Go away!_You already took everything I have! What more do you want?!" her voice caught at the end, and she buried her face back in her arms as a sob racked her.

Slowly, so as not to startle her, Ling kneeled down across from Raven, studying her carefully. It was strange- frightening even- to see a girl that prided herself in being tough as nails suddenly look so small and fragile. It almost hurt simply looking at her in such a state, the complete opposite of how he had always seen her. She had never struck Ling as the type to need anything, not a friend's helping hand, another person's pity, or least of all a shoulder to cry on. But now, as she sat curled into a tight ball with wide, frantic eyes and a tear-stained face, Ling knew he would have to be her rock.

Seating himself cross-legged on the ground across her, Ling took a deep breath and lay a gently hand on top of her head. "Hey," he prompted softly, pulling her close and cradling her against his chest. "Do you hear my heart?"

He felt her press her cold and damp face against his bare chest, and goose bumps that had nothing to do with the cold rose on his arms. "Y-yeah..." she murmured shakily as another shiver rocked her entire body.

"Hear how steady it is?" he continued, glad of her response.

She paused for what seemed an eternity, and Ling feared she may have gone into shock until she responded, "It sounds really fast."

Ling swallowed unevenly at her statement. He'd hoped that she would simply go along with it and mistake his quickened heart rate as her own, but that clearly wasn't the case. "Well, uh..." he fumbled for words. "Focus on my breathing then. When I breathe, you breathe, okay?"

Feeling her head nod under his chin, Ling forced a deep breath in and felt her chest rise as she mimicked him, albeit rather shallowly. They did this for several minutes, Ling all the while doing his best to ignore the still-uneven thumping of his heart. When he finally heard Raven's breathing completely even out and her trembling slowly receded, he felt a relieved breath escape his lungs, like a weight had been taken off his chest.

Taking another deep breath to prepare himself, he lifted Raven's chin up and brought her face-to-face with him. Though her eyes were still red and her skin still icy to the touch, she had lost the slightly manic touch to her green orbs. Instead it was replaced with a sort of resigned exhaustion, as if her breakdown had drained her of all her energy. Despite her overall disheveled appearance though, Ling couldn't help the slight upturn of his mouth as he saw Raven return to him. "Better?" he murmured softly.

Nodding wordlessly, she ducked her head back down and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. She felt like a small child in his arms as he returned the gesture. "Ling," she mumbled into his chest. "Ling, I-" she choked on a sob.

Knitting his eyebrows together in concern, the prince held her even closer as if trying to merge them into a single being, doing his best to wrap the two of them together into his jacket and warm the shivering girl. "You don't have to tell me," he said gently. Her reasons for breaking down mattered little to him at this point- what mattered was putting her back together.

"That eye… this place…" she muttered. "I've seen them before. They tried to kill me…" her voice hitched and trailed off as Ling suspected she attempted to swallow past another round of tears.

"No one is going to hurt you," he reassured. "Not while I'm around."

Pulling away, she wiped her face with the sleeve of her coat, attempting a smile that seemed to lighten her eyes a few shades, though looked as if the simple action wore her out. Her body sagged with fatigue, and Ling had to hold her upright in order to keep her stable.

She was clearly exhausted, both mentally and physically, but Ling knew that they would need to move. He wasn't absolutely certain if they were as alone or as safe as he had reassured, and he wasn't about to sit and wait to find out they were trapped with another feral homunculus. Glancing about at their surroundings, Ling contemplated the possibly that someone outside of himself and Raven was inside this hellhole, and nearly slapped his forehead at his stupidity. "Edward's down here with us," he said, shifting himself so that his back was to the girl. "We should probably start looking for him." In one swift motion, he swung Raven onto his back and held her firmly so as not to drop her when she jumped at the sudden motion.

"W-what're you-" she stammered, throwing her arms around his neck in a vice-like grip, or what he supposed was as strong a hold as she could manage, given her current state.

Hauling himself and Raven up, Ling picked a completely random direction and began marching forward. "I figured you don't feel like walking, so I thought I'd give you a ride," he reasoned.

She was silent for a moment before muttering an exhausted, "Okay," and nuzzled her face into his shoulder. In a matter of seconds, her breathing slowed and deepened as she fell into what Ling hoped was a deep sleep.

As he continued to slosh through the seemingly endless sea of blood, the girl's haunting cries still echoed in his ears. _You already took everything I have!_Could she have been referring to her missing appendages? Or was it her soul? It certainly fit with her later statement that someone or something had tried to kill her.

What troubled him more was the fact that she had seen this abysmal place in the past, had seen the eye that had swallowed them up. But how was that even possible? Judging from her reaction upon Gluttony's transformation, the sight of it surprised her just as much as it had him. True, she had seemed to go into some kind of shock, but he suspected it had more to do with the bizarre grey eyeball floating in the hollow of the homunculus' stomach. Where she might have seen this before was completely unknown to him, and part of him didn't even want to know. Truthfully, he didn't much care if any explanation was given to him; he only wanted to ensure she never had to experience it again.

A warm breeze tickled the side of his face, and it took him a moment to process the fact that Raven was murmuring quietly into the fabric of his jacket, her small voice muffled. "Hmm? Did you say something?" Ling prompted.

He felt her raise her head and prop her chin onto his shoulder, a tired sigh escaping her lips. "I said I'm sorry," she answered in a somewhat thick voice.

Quirking an eyebrow, Ling replied jokingly, "You're not that heavy."

She chuckled once, her warm breath tickling his ear and the corner of his mouth turned upward in an unconscious grin. It was good to hear her laugh even fleetingly, and especially in such a haunting environment. Especially when she'd been in the process of a breakdown not minutes ago.

"I guess I should apologize for that too," Raven said after a while. "But really, I'm just saying sorry for everything."

Ling's brow furrowed as he readjusted the girl on his back. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." she began, settling her cheek onto his shoulder. "I'm not exactly the easiest or the most fun person to deal with, and I haven't really been the greatest to you since we met. You've done a lot for me- a lot more than I deserve- and I never said thank you. So I'm sorry... for making you wait this long to hear it."

For a moment, Ling was speechless. He wasn't sure where any of this had come from, but he was suddenly very aware of her arms tightening around him. It wasn't enough to be uncomfortable, but strong enough to feel reassuring, comforting even. Perhaps, he thought with a small smile, he'd turned the once haphephobic girl into a hugger.

"If that's the case," he stated simply, "then don't apologize. Just say 'thanks'. It's a lot easier to say in a lot less words."

Though he couldn't see her face, he could almost hear the tiny smile in her voice as she murmured, "Thank you, Ling," into his ear. He nearly tripped over his own feet as he felt her press her lips lightly against his cheek, the contact sending small bolts of electricity coursing through his body.

As she withdrew and buried her face in his shoulder, Ling was immensely grateful that she couldn't see the numerous shades of red his face was currently turning. He opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out, and he stood there gaping like a fish out of water- he certainly felt like one. Thankfully she did not seem to notice this, and if she did, she didn't comment. Closing his mouth and resuming his pace, Ling found that there really was nothing _to_say. He couldn't quite pinpoint a name for the emotion swelling inside him that seemed to originate from his still-warm cheek, but he knew it was one that had slowly been building up inside him ever since she'd revealed the secret of her soul to him.

All he knew for now was that he didn't want to let go of Raven anytime soon.


	28. NOT Dead- Yet

Oh my fucking fuck.

Technology is retarded. So am I, but that's not the point at the moment.

As many of you may have noticed, I haven't updated in several months. The reason: my computer committed suicide. So guess what I've been doing these past several months? Yes, completing the tedious task of scrounging up money from doing odd jobs in order to buy a new laptop. Well, at least this one isn't almost as old as I am, so it's unlikely I'll run into technical problems anymore- yays!

Now that I've revived myself with my epic necromancy powers, the story may continue! Chapter 28 will be up within a day or two, and chapter 29 is soon to follow. All this time without a laptop to publish chapters, I've been able to handwrite the next few pieces, so expect more than one update in the days to come!

I'm sorry I made you guys wait this long to hear from me, I've been transferring my files onto this new computer. Good news though, is that an update (or two) is coming soon, so stay tuned, and thanks for those of you who continue to put up with me and my technology handicap. I love you guys so much, you have no idea. Just like how I have no idea how you can put up with me.

See you soon!


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